CBMCs, MSCs, and placental explants were isolated respectively from cord blood, cord tissue, or placenta obtained at term from healthy human subjects recruited in a separate study cohort as described previously (Jiang et al. 2020). The protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center. CBMCs were isolated from cord blood of non-diabetic healthy individuals by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation. The cord blood was diluted 1: 3 in PBS (without Ca2+ and Mg2+), layered over Ficoll buffer, and centrifuged at 400 g for 35 min. The interphase cell layer was collected and washed in PBS for 3 times. The CBMCs were plated and cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium with 10% Fetal Bovine Serum followed by treatment with TNFα (100 ng/ml), high glucose (25 mM), palmitate acid (0.6 mM), or 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE, 0.6 mM) for 16 h. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were isolated from Wharton’s Jelly of cord tissue as previously described (Boyle et al. 2016). For Placental explant culture, two pieces of placental tissue were collected from healthy subjects within 15 min after delivery, stripped of connective tissues, and dissected to small pieces (about 2 mm). The placental villous explants were cultured in 6-well plate at 37 °C in 5% CO2 in Ham’s F-12 medium (Gibco/Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) supplemented with 10% FBS (Mediatech, Manassas, VA), 100 μM MEM Non-Essential Amino Acids (Gibco/Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY), and 0.5% penicillin/streptomycin/amphotericin B (Gibco/Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) and were treated with indicated doses of resistin or vehicle for 24 h in culture.