rabbit test
Noun: A historical, biological test for pregnancy. The test involves injecting a sample of a woman's urine into a female rabbit that has not mated. After a period of time, the rabbit is examined. If structures called corpora lutea are found on the rabbit's ovaries, the result indicates that the woman was pregnant.
This term refers specifically to an obsolete medical procedure. It is used in historical, scientific, or medical contexts when discussing the history of pregnancy testing. - Before modern home kits, the rabbit test was a common, though slow and inhumane, method for detecting pregnancy. - The doctor explained that the rabbit test, which gave rise to the phrase "the rabbit died," has been obsolete for decades.
- Historical Context: The phrase "the rabbit died" was popularly, though inaccurately, believed to mean a positive pregnancy test. In reality, the rabbit was always dissected to complete the test, so it always died.
- Scientific Principle: The test detected the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone produced during pregnancy, which would stimulate changes in the rabbit's ovaries.
- Aschheim-Zondek test: An earlier historical pregnancy test using mice or rats.
- Friedman test: A similar historical pregnancy test using rabbits.
- Immunoassay: The modern type of test (e.g., home pregnancy test) that replaced biological tests like the rabbit test.
- Biological pregnancy test (historical)
- Bioassay for pregnancy
This term has only one specific meaning: the historical biological assay for pregnancy using a rabbit. It is not used in any other context. The procedure is considered outdated and ethically problematic due to the required death of the animal.
- pregnancy test that involves injecting some of the woman's urine into an unmated female rabbit and later examining the ovaries of the rabbit; presence of corpora lutea indicates that the woman is pregnant