Rabbit test

The Aschheim- Zondek reaction ( AZR ), according to the gynecologist Selmar Aschheim ( 1878-1965 ) and Bernhard Zondek ( 1891-1966 ), was a method previously commonly used for the early detection of a possible pregnancy by means of the secretion of the hormone chorionic gonadotropin in pregnant women.

In the test a little morning urine to be examined some young woman ( infantile ) female mice was injected under the skin. Was the pregnancy hormone in human urine contain, responded the ovaries of mice after 48 hours of ovulation and indicated so that the woman was probably pregnant. This finding, however, the autopsy of the test animals was necessary, in contrast to the frog test, another old method for early detection of pregnancy. An equally outdated method, the Friedman test, led the pregnancy test based on the response of the ovaries of a rabbit to human urine.

• Animal experiments
• History of Medicine