Figure 2.

Short- and long-term survival of NTS in serum is host specific. NTS were cultured and maintained in hybridoma medium (HM) with or without 20% mammalian sera at 37°C in 5% CO₂ for four weeks. Medium supplemented with 20% of the corresponding serum was refreshed weekly. (A) Serum effects of mammalian species which ensured long-term survival of NTS. NTS were cultured in the absence (HM) or presence of 20% serum from swine (SwSe), horses (HoSe) or rabbits (RbSe) and viability was scored. All sera ensured survival of NTS for at least four weeks after transformation. (B) Serum effects of mammalian species that heavily impaired viability of NTS. NTS were cultured in the absence or presence of 20% serum from rhesus macaques (NHPSe), sheep (ShSe), rats (RtSe) or hamsters (HmSe) and viability was scored. Results are representative of at least three individual experiments. Each data point has been shown as mean ± SD of at least three technical replicates. (C) Schematic representation of stage-dependent development of schistosomula. NTS were cultured with sera of indicated species in the same manner as above and monitored microscopically. SkS, skin stage. LuS, lung stage. eLiS, early liver stage. lLiS, late liver stage. p.t., post transformation. s.p., scoring point.