My penny-bit for what its worth...
Staff in the Physiology dept. of UCT were working on this in the late
1920s to early 1930s.
Dr H J Zwarenstein and Dr H A Shapiro reported in October 1933
that it was possible to make an early diagnosis of pregnancy with the
use of the South African frog, Xenopus laevis. Urine of the patient
is injected into the subcutaneous tissues of the frog. If the
patient is pregnant, the frog ovulates within 48 hours.
(A rapid test for pregnancy on Xenopus laevis. Proc Roy Soc S Afr,
October 18, 1933) Also in: Nature (Lond) 1934, v.133, p339) and in
S Afr Med J 1935, v.9, 202-205.
> Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 23:52:34 -0500
> From: Lee Hover <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: History of Pregnancy Testing ????
> Ascheim-Zondek test (A-Z test) was done in 50"s. Woman's urine injected
> subq into immatrue white mice. If pregnant, the ovaries of the mice will
> be enlarged, hyperemic, & hemorrhagic, and will show maturation of the
> ovarian follicles. (Blakiston's New Gould Medical Dictionary, 2nd ed, 1956.
> Later on rabbits were used. After that male toads (xenopus laevis) were
> used, and if the woman was pregnant, they would extrude sperm.
>
> Lee Hover
> Director, Scientific Information
> Integrated Communications Corp
> Parsippany, NJ
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cleo Wilkinson [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2000 7:24 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: History of Pregnancy Testing ????
>
> Hi Colleagues,
>
> We are requiring papers / articles discussing and outlining the History
> of Pregnancy Testing . I have searched medline with little success.
> (We also have some information that toads were used for urine screening
> for pregnancy
> here in Queensland Australia . However we have been unable to find any
> documented
> evidence of this)Any help in locating a source for any information on
> this topic would be greatfully received.
> Many Thanks in advance.
> Cleo
>
>
>
>
> --
> Cleo Wilkinson
> Librarian
> Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology
> Po Box 344
> Indooroopilly
> QLD 4068
> AUSTRALIA
>
> PH : 61 7 3377 8525
> FX : 61 7 3377 8737
>
> email : [log in to unmask]
>
>
> "The chinese do not draw any distinction between food and medicine"
> LIN YUTANG
>
>
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