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Mice cope with parabiosis — Assessment of their physiological changes of life
ZHANG, Fu-Xiang; YANG, Yi-Bin; KE, Gui-Bao; CHEN, Ying; XU, Xin-Mei; TAN, Zhou-Ke & RONG, Song
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to establish a parabiotic mice model and assess the physiological changes
of the mice under the parabiotic state. Thirteen pairs of isogenic partners were studied. The model was created by
preparing a bridge of skin and subcutaneous tissues between the two mice starting distal of the elbow joint along the
humerus along the lateral costal region until the end of the waist line. Physiological, social and affective qualities of life
were studied in the mice through behavioural observations for 120 days following the parabiotic surgery. During the first
2−3 days following the operation, the animals suffered from severe pain and distress. During the following days and
weeks, the physiological system began to recover and the animals displayed behavioral adaptations to the parabiotic
condition. All animals survived at day 120. At three days post operation, the body weight began to decrease. Following
this, the animals experienced a continual body weight recovery and reached pre-surgical measures at about 30 days post
op. Forty-eight h post op., faecal corticosterone-metabolites were extremely elevated, but their levels returned to two to
four times of levels in control females within 72 hours post op. The faecal corticosterone-metabolite levels decreased near
to control values on day 75. Out of the 13 pairs, the blood exchange rate of three parabiotic partners was tested, with the
result being normal post op. After 12 weeks, the total blood exchange between both partners needed 63 or 46 or 107 min,
respectively. These results demonstrated that the animals could adapt behaviourally to the parabiotic situation. Therefore,
this parabiosis mouse model may provide useful insights in many research areas, such as transplantation immunity,
hematological system and metabolism, etc.
Keywords
Faecal corticosterone; Mouse; Adaptation; Evans Blue; Parabiotic mice model
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