Skip to main content
. 2015 May 12;10(5):e0126009. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126009

Fig 1. Effect of metformin and its combination with albendazole sulfoxide on viability and ultrastructural characteristics of protoscoleces and metacestodes of E. granulosus.

Fig 1

Viability of protoscoleces (A, PTS) and metacestodes (B, MTC) incubated for 10 and 4 days, respectively with 1, 5 and 10 mM of metformin alone (Met, gray bars), 15 μM albendazole sulfoxide (ABZSO, black bars) alone and 1, 5 and 10 mM Met plus 15 μM ABZSO in combination (open bars). Data are the mean ± S.D. of three independent experiments. ***Statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) compared with control. (C) Macroscopical damage of metacestodes treated with 10 mM Met for 4 days. Control metacestodes (Co) without morphological changes and treated metacestodes showing increased permeability (culture medium inside cysts) and collapsed germinal layer (circles). (D) Scanning electron microscopy of protoscoleces (a-d) and metacestodes (e-h) incubated with 10 mM of Met for 4 days. Control protoscolex with normal sucker and microtriches (a,b); treated protoscolex with soma region contracted and scolex region showing loss of hooks and shedding of microtriches (c,d); control murine cyst with an intact germinal layer (e,f); treated cyst with altered germinal layer (g,h). Bars indicate: 10 μm in (b, d and g-h), 20 μm in (a, c and f) and 50 μm (e).