Fig. 7: Adult S. mansoni ESPs rescue stem cell proliferation in adult worms from single sex cultures in a p38 MAPK and ERK-dependent manner.

a Cartoon illustrating the experimental workflow. b Adult male or female worms were either chased with EdU on day 0 for 24 h, or separated into groups of five males or females for 6 days prior to being exposed to opposite sex ESPs (or not, control) for 24 h either with or without 10 μM SB203580 or 10 μM U0126, and chased simultaneously with EdU for 24 h. Worms were then processed for EdU detection, stained with DAPI and images captured by CLSM. Representative images show maximum projections (50, 25, and 20 z-sections for the testes and ovaries, vitellaria, and teguments, respectively). Scale bar = 50 μm. Graphs show EdU⁺ cell counts (from individual sections of an entire z-stack) from at least three independent assays for male testicular lobes and tegument, and female ovaries, vitellaria and tegument with the mean (±S.D.) also shown; ***p ≤ 0.001 (ANOVA).