Figure 3.

Sja-miR-71a in S. japonicum egg-derived EVs attenuates the pathological progression of liver fibrosis in S. japonicum infection. (a). Time schedule for parasite infection and intravenous injections of rAAV vectors or PBS and sample examination. (b). H&E staining of liver sections. (c). The percentage of granulomatous area and the area of a single granuloma was measured from H&E sections using Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software (n = 5–7 per group). (d). Fibrosis was observed using liver sections stained with Masson’s trichrome staining, and integrated optical density (IOD) was analysed by Image-Pro Plus 6.0 (n = 5 per group). (e). Expression levels of α-SMA and collagen I in mice livers were analysed by qRT-PCR and western blotting (n = 5–8 per group). (f). The co-localization of GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) and α-SMA in liver sections was observed, DAPI was used as a counterstain. Results are shown as mean ± SD (one-way ANOVA Dunnett’s multiple comparison test).