parabiosis

American  

[par-uh-bahy-oh-sis, -bee-] / ˌpær ə baɪˈoʊ sɪs, -bi- /

noun

Biology.

1. experimental or natural union of two individuals with exchange of blood.

2. Physiology. the temporary loss of conductivity or excitability of a nerve cell.

---

parabiosis British  

/ ˌpærəbaɪˈəʊsɪs, ˌpærəbaɪˈɒtɪk /

noun

1. the natural union of two individuals, such as Siamese twins, so that they share a common circulation of the blood

2. a similar union induced for experimental or therapeutic purposes

---

Other Word Forms

• parabiotic adjective

Etymology

Origin of parabiosis

First recorded in 1905–10; para- ¹ + -biosis

Example Sentences

In the early 2000s a group of scientists at Stanford University, California, revived a grisly procedure used in the 1950s known as parabiosis.

From The Guardian • Feb. 2, 2020

The TV comedy showcased human-to-human parabiosis, with a young “blood boy” directly transfusing his blood into a wealthy, aging recipient.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2019

Irina Conboy of the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, who has published a study on heterochronic parabiosis, told Salon in an email the FDA made the right call.

From Salon • Feb. 27, 2019

Since 2013, Amy Wagers, a stem-cell researcher at Harvard, has studied parabiosis in pairs of differently aged mice.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 7, 2019

The mechanisms by which parabiosis operates, then, are foggy.

From Economist • Jul. 12, 2017