Assessment of 7-day schistosomula viability with propidium iodide.

<p>At 7-days, schistosomula were stained with 2 µg/mL propidium iodide and observed under a microscope with either polarized light or a rhodamine filter (536 nm). Dead parasites fluoresce under the rhodamine filter. Schistosomula were cultured in the Basch medium with PEI agent alone (A–D), transfected with plasmid constructs expressing mCherry under control of SmActin1 promoter (E–H), or transfected with plasmid constructs expressing SmCaspase7 under control of SmActin1 promoter (I–L). (A), (C), (E), (G), (I), (K) were detected by a rhodamine filter. (B, D, F, H, I, L) were the corresponding samples visualized by polarized light. Images were obtained under 40X magnification.