Fig. 3

Artemisinin derivatives cause DNA damage and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in the infected cell. A Comet assay visualisation of DNA damage in T. annulata-infected cells after 48 h of treatment with ARS + BPQ and DHART + BPQ, as compared to untreated parasites. B Comet assay evaluation of the olive tail moment (OTM) after 48 h with ARS + BPQ and DHART + BPQ, compared to untreated cells (Control). The error bars reflect mean plus/minus standard deviations. C Comet assay visualisation of DNA damage in T. annulata infected cells after 30, 60, and 120 min of treatment with ARS + BPQ and DHART + BPQ, relative to untreated parasites. D Comet assay assessment of the olive tail moment (OTM) after 30, 60, and 120 min with ARS + BPQ and DHART + BPQ against untreated (Control) cells. The error bars reflect mean standard deviations. E Immunofluorescence analysis of T. annulata infected cells after 2 h and 6 h of treatment with ARS, DHART, and BPQ using an anti-γ-H2A.X antibody (phosphorylated). DAPI was used for nuclear staining (blue). Ordinary 1way ANOVA was performed to check the statistical significance, and Dunnett's multiple comparisons test was used for the analysis. The mean of each treatment was compared with the control, and the graph represents the standard error mean. In the graph, ****represents the significance of (P < 0.0001), ns represents nonsignificant results with P value > 0.05 while *represents the significance of (P ≤ 0.05)