Parabiosis modeling: protocol, application and perspectives

Zool Res. 2021 May 18;42(3):253-261. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2020.368.

Abstract

Parabiosis is a surgical method of animal modeling with a long history. It has been widely used in medical research, particularly in the fields of aging, stem cells, neuroscience, and immunity in the past two decades. The protocols for parabiosis have been improved many times and are now widely accepted. However, researchers need to consider many details, from surgical operation to perioperative management, to reduce mortality and maintain the parabiosis union. Although parabiosis has certain inevitable limitations, it still has broad application prospects as an irreplaceable animal model in the medical research field.

并联共生(parabiosis)是通过手术方法将两只实验动物进行外科连接的一种历史悠久的动物模型。在过去的二十年里,该模型被广泛应用于生物医学研究,特别是在衰老、干细胞、神经科学和免疫等领域。虽然并联共生模型已经得到了不断改进和完善,但从手术操作到围术期管理,仍有诸多细节值得研究者们关注,以降低死亡率和提高并联共生的稳定性。尽管存在着自身的局限性,但作为一种不可替代的研究手段,并联共生动物模型在生物医学研究领域仍有广阔的应用前景。.

Keywords: Application; Parabiosis; Perioperative management; Protocols; Surgical technique.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animal Welfare
  • Animals
  • Biomedical Research / history
  • Biomedical Research / methods*
  • History, 20th Century
  • History, 21st Century
  • Longevity
  • Parabiosis*

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81601112, 81801090), Top Project of Youth Incubation Program of Military Medical Science and Technology (19QNP065), Sichuan Department of Science and Technology Fund (2018SZ0141, 2019YSF0213), China’s Post-doctoral Science Fund (2017M623357), and Sichuan Medical Association Fund (Q17008)