Experiment 2: Parabiotic Surgery

Drag two mice to the table to create a parabiotic pair.
Perform the surgery and collect the data.
Examine the effects of each possible pairing.


WT	ob/ob	db/db
Wild-type mice make leptin and its receptors.	ob/ob mice do not produce leptin.	db/db mice do not produce the leptin receptor.

Start Again Collect Data Perform Surgery

Question: What happens to each mouse
after the parabiotic surgeries?

Show Answer

Answer: Parabiotic ob/ob mice obtain leptin from the WT partner and lose fat. Parabiotic db/db mice remain obese because they have no receptor for the leptin that their partner gives to them. The ob/ob mouse of the parabiotic ob/ob db/db mice receives leptin from the db/db mouse and loses fat.