Comparison of microscopy and Alamar blue to assess activity of known anti-schistosome drugs.

<p>Replicate 96-well microtitre plates were set up containing DMSO at 0.5% and either 10 µg/ml (Figure A) or 1 µg/ml (Figure B) of Oxamniquine (OX), Praziquantel (PZ), Meclonazepam (MCZ), Clonazepam (CZ), Ro15-5458 (Ro15), Oltipraz (OPZ) or Dihydroartemisisin (DHA). 100 schistosomula were added per well. Triplicate wells were set up for each treatment. The % dead or damaged schistosomula were counted on each of days 1, 3, 5 and 7. Alamar blue was added on these days and fluorescence read in Arbitrary Units (AU) 24 h later. Mean fluorescence values from wells containing AB and cM169 without parasites were subtracted from the values for test wells. The results for each of the triplicate wells are shown in the graphs with the horizontal bars representing the mean values. The dotted horizontal line on each AB graph corresponds to an AU value 25% lower than the mean for the triplicate DMSO controls. Values for medium alone controls were very comparable to the DMSO values (data not shown).