Pregnancy tests using animals
Method for early detection of pregnancy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Before immunological pregnancy tests were developed in the 1960s, women relied on urine-based pregnancy tests using animals, ranging from mice to frogs.[1][2] Advancements in medical technology have enabled women to accurately check their pregnancy status by using 'pee-on-a-stick' pregnancy test kits at home. Before these accessible and convenient test kits were invented, scientists strived to discover a way in spotting pregnancy-related hormones by a natural, simple test, where animals were often included as clinical tools to facilitate the process.[3]
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Throughout history, there have been different animal-based tests with the aim of indicating the pregnancy status of women.[4] The most well known test is the Hogben test, prevalent from the 1940s to the 1960s, by using the underlying principle of hormones and its subsequent biological response in both sexes of certain frog species.[5][6] The Galli-Mainini test is another frog test developed based on similar principles.[7]
Widespread export and traffic in African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) used for these tests is believed to have been the primary cause of the world-wide spread of chytridiomycosis, a fungal infectious disease in amphibians that has been linked to dramatic population declines of amphibian species on several continents.[8]