Fig. 1.

Illustrations of stages of the parabiosis surgery. Following all the requisite surgical preparations and shaving of the skin along the flanks of mice to be joined (A), a skin incision is made along the opposing flanks of each mouse (B). The skin is freed from the underlying peritoneal lining of each skin flap (C), being careful not to damage the peritoneum. With the mice side-by-side in a prone position, the dorsal skin flaps from the two mice are pinched together and stapled in a rostral-to-caudal fashion (D), until the dorsal flaps are stably joined (E). The connection is secured by suturing the corresponding joints (elbows and knees), using a suture passed through the soft tissues of each joint while avoiding passing through the joints themselves (F). With the pair flipped over to reveal the ventral skin flaps (G), the process of stapling the skin and suturing the joints is repeated, resulting in the generation of stable parabionts (H) (illustrations are adapted from photographs in Conboy & Conboy, 2009).