Fig. 2.

Enhanced anti-S. japonicum activity of ATT compared with ART in mice. a The total number of S. japonicum adult worms and individual male worms present in the hepatoportal and mesenteric veins of mice with 6 weeks of S. japonicum infection, with either ART or ATT treatment (n = 4–6). Data were thoroughly counted and analyzed using a t-test. b Enumeration of eggs in liver section (2 mm) from mice subjected to 6 weeks of S. japonicum infection, with or without ART or ATT treatment, was conducted and analyzed by t-test. Representative liver section (2 mm or 400 μm) post- H&E staining from these groups are exhibited in c. d Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to examine the surface morphology of adult worms extracted from the livers of infected mice, treated with or without ATT. Detailed views include the tegument of adult worms' mid-body without (a1) or with (a2) ATT treatment. ATT’s impact is evident in the altered appearance of regular prominent spines (b1 versus b2), crests (c1 versus c2) in the mid-body tegument and prominent spines (e1 versus e2) on the gynecophoral canal of adult males (d1 versus d2). e, f Volcano plots illustrate the differential expression of genes (DEGs) in S. japonicum female (e) and male (f) adult worms from mice with or without ATT treatment, as analyzed by RNA-seq analysis (FDR ≤ 0.001 and log₂ ≥ 1). The X axis represents the log₂ fold change, and the Y axis represents the log₁₀ (adjusted P value). In these plots, red and green represent up- and downregulated genes, respectively, while gray dots denote genes without significant changes. The threshold was set at adjusted P value < 0.05 and |log₂ fold change| > 1. g, h Significant Gene Ontology (GO) categories for DEGs in S. japonicum female (h) and male (i) adult worms from mice treated with or without ATT. The X axis denotes the log₁₀ (P value), and the Y axis lists the GO term names