B6.129s1 tlr7tm1flv j

Female C57BL/6J mice were obtained from the Animal Resources Centre (Western Australia, Australia). Homozygous TLR7 knockout mice (B6.129S1-Tlr7^tm1Flv/J) were obtained from The Jackson Laboratory (Maine, USA) and bred in-house at the RMIT University animal research facility (Bundoora, Australia). Mice were housed in a 12 h light/12 h dark cycle with food and water.

C57BL/6J, muMT (B6.129S2-Ighmtm1Cgn/J), and Tlr7^−/− (B6.129S1Tlr7tm1Flv/J) mice were purchased from Jackson Laboratories, and bred in the National Institute on Aging animal colony. Mice of both sexes were used at 2–3 months of age. Mice were immunized intraperitoneally with 100 µg of 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl conjugated to chicken gamma globulin (NP₃₀-CGG, BioSearch Technologies), which was emulsified in alum (Thermo Fisher Scientific), and with 30 µg of R837 (Sigma-Aldrich) in phosphate-buffered saline. Secondary boosts contained 50 µg of NP-CGG in alum. Animal protocols were reviewed and approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee at the NIA.

Wild-type C57BL/6J and TLR7 KO (B6.129S1-Tlr7^tm1Flv/J) mice were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and were 11–18 weeks of age at the time of experimentation. Adult, female Hartley guinea pigs were purchased from Charles River Laboratories (Wilmington, MA) and were 7–10 weeks old (350–500 g) at the time of experimentation. All animals were housed in filtered air rooms, given ad libitum access to food and water, and exposed to a 12-h light/dark cycle. Animals were treated in accordance with the standards established by the United States Animal Welfare Act set forth by the National Institutes of Health guidelines. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Oregon Health & Science University approved all the experimental protocols.

Sixty female C57BL/6 mice, 6 to 8 weeks old, weighted 20-25 g, were purchased from Guangdong Medical Laboratory Animal Center (Guangzhou, China), and TLR7 KO mice were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (B6.129S1-Tlr7^tm1Flv/J, strains: 008380). All mice were maintained in a specific pathogen-free microenvironment (SPF) at the Laboratory Animal Centre, Guangzhou Medical University. Mice were fed with standard diet, allowed ad libitum access to food and water and taken care of on a 12 h light-dark cycle. S. japonicum cercariae were shed from naturally infected Oncomelania hupensis snails, which were purchased from Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Disease (Wuxi, China). There are 3 groups of mice in this study. 40 C57BL/6 mice were divided into normal and infected group randomly, twenty mice per group. 20 C57BL/6 mice in the infected group and 10 TLR7 KO mice (TLR7 KO group) were infected percutaneously with 40 ± 5 cercariae and sacrificed at 6 weeks after infection; 10 uninfectedTLR7 KO mice were served as control, too. The animal experiments were performed in strict accordance with the regulations for the Administration of Affairs Concerning Experimental Animals, and all efforts were made to minimize suffering. The bodies of the mice were frozen in -20°C and sent to the Laboratory Animal Centre of Guangzhou Medical University after the experiment.