History of animal testing

One of Pavlov’s dogs with a saliva-catch container and tube surgically implanted in its muzzle, Pavlov Museum, 2005

The history of animal testing goes back to the writings of the Ancient Greeks in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE, with Aristotle (384–322 BCE) and Erasistratus (304–258 BCE) one of the first documented to perform experiments on nonhuman animals.[1] Galen, a physician in 2nd-century Rome, dissected pigs and goats, and is known as the "Father of Vivisection."[2] Avenzoar, an Arabic physician in 12th-century Moorish Spain who also practiced dissection, introduced animal testing as an experimental method of testing surgical procedures before applying them to human patients.[3][4] Although the exact purpose of the procedure was unclear, a Neolithic surgeon performed trepanation on a cow in 3400-3000 BCE.[5] This is the earliest known surgery to have been performed on an animal, and it is possible that the procedure was done on a dead cow in order for the surgeon to practice their skills.

  1. ^ Cohen and Loew 1984.
  2. ^ "History of nonhuman animal research" Archived 2006-10-13 at the Wayback Machine, Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group.
  3. ^ Abdel-Halim, Rabie E. (September 2005). "Contributions of Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) to the progress of surgery: a study and translations from his book Al-Taisir". Saudi Med J. 26 (9): 1333–9. PMID 16155644.
  4. ^ Abdel-Halim, Rabie E. (2006). "Contributions of Muhadhdhab Al-Deen Al-Baghdadi to the progress of medicine and urology". Saudi Medical Journal. 27 (11): 161–1641. PMID 17106533.
  5. ^ Ramirez Rozzi, Fernando; Froment, Alain (2018-04-19). "Earliest Animal Cranial Surgery: from Cow to Man in the Neolithic". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 5536. Bibcode:2018NatSR...8.5536R. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-23914-1. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5908843. PMID 29674628.