Rabbit test
PurposePregnancy test

The rabbit test, or Friedman test, was an early pregnancy test developed in 1931 by Maurice Friedman and Maxwell Edward Lapham[1] at the University of Pennsylvania.

Test

The hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is produced during pregnancy and can be found in a pregnant woman's urine and blood; it indicates the presence of an implanted fertilized egg. An earlier test, known as the AZ test, was developed by Selmar Aschheim and Bernhard Zondek.[2] When urine from a woman in the early months of pregnancy was injected into immature female mice, their ovaries would enlarge and show follicular maturation. The test was considered reliable, with an error rate of less than 2%.[3] Friedman and Lapham's test was essentially identical, but replaced the mouse with a rabbit. A few days after the injection, the animal would be dissected and the size of her ovaries examined.

The rabbit test became a widely used bioassay (animal-based test) to test for pregnancy. The term "rabbit test" was first recorded in 1949, and was the origin of a common euphemism, "the rabbit died", for a positive pregnancy test.[4] The phrase was, in fact, based on a common misconception about the test. While many people assumed that the injected rabbit would die only if the woman was pregnant, in fact all rabbits used for the test died, as they had to be dissected in order to examine the ovaries.[5]

A later alternative to the rabbit test, known as the "Hogben test", used the African clawed frog, and yielded results without the need to cut the animal open.[6] Modern pregnancy tests continue to operate on the basis of testing for the presence of the hormone hCG in the blood or urine, but no longer require the use of a live animal.

In the media

  • "Sweet Emotion" (1975) by Aerosmith contains the lyric "You're telling her things but your girlfriend lied / You can't catch me 'cause the rabbit done died."
  • Rabbit Test, a 1978 comedy film about the world's first pregnant man.
  • M*A*S*H Series 6 Episode 20 - “What’s Up Doc?”: Margaret, believing she is pregnant, undergoes a rabbit test administered by Hawkeye on Radar’s pet. He manages to extract the ovaries without killing the rabbit.
  • "Rabbit Test," a 2022 short story by Samantha Mills that appeared in Uncanny Magazine, won Nebula and Locus awards, and was nominated for a Hugo award; it is focused on pregnancy testing and abortion justice.

References

  1. ↑ "The assay of gonadotropic extracts in the post-partum rabbit". Journal of Endocrinology. 24 (5). 1 May 1939.
  2. ↑ Morris Fishbein, M.D., ed. (1976). "Aschheim-Zondek Test". The New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 (Home Library ed.). New York, N.Y. 10016: H. S. Stuttman Co. p. 139.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ↑ Evans, Herbert M.; Simpson, Miriam E. (1930). "Aschheim-Zondek test for pregnancy – its present status". Calif West Med. 32 (3): 145–8. PMC 1657362. PMID 18741327.
  4. ↑ Wilton, Dave (28 February 2007). "rabbit test / the rabbit died". www.wordorigins.org. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  5. ↑ Howe, Marvine (10 March 1991). "Dr Maurice Friedman 87 Dies Created Rabbit Pregnancy Test". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ Yong, Ed (4 May 2017). "How a Frog Became the First Mainstream Pregnancy Test". The Atlantic. Retrieved 30 July 2018.

Sources

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