Parabiosis modeling: Protocol, application and perspectives

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.