Schistosoma mansoni Infection in Genetically Engineered Mice

Five- to six-week-old female CBA/J, C57BL/6, TRIF^−/−, IFNAR1^−/−, STAT1^−/−, and GSDMD^−/− mice were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory and Swiss Webster mice from Taconic Biosciences. cGAS^−/− mice were from Katherine Fitzgerald and STING^−/− mice were from Alexander Poltorak. Breeding colonies were established for STING^−/−, IFNAR1^−/−, and cGAS^−/− mice. All mice were maintained at the Tufts University School of Medicine Animal Facility in accordance with the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care guidelines. The mice were infected by i.p. injection with 85 cercariae of S. mansoni (Puerto Rico strain) shed from infected Biomphalaria glabrata snails. The snails were provided by the NIAID Schistosomiasis Resource Center of the Biomedical Research Institute (Rockville, MD) through NIH-NIAID Contract HHSN272201000005I for distribution through BEI Resources. Live schistosome eggs were isolated from livers of infected Swiss Webster mice under sterile conditions by a series of blending and straining techniques, as previously described (84 (link)).