Skin
Pritam S. Sahota, James A. Popp, Jerry F. Hardisty, Chirukandath Gopinath, Page R. Bouchard in Toxicologic Pathology, 2018
Many factors have been evaluated in determining the most appropriate animal models for assessment of dermal tolerance, including body size, handling, ethical use of animals, skin morphology, and permeability characteristics. In terms of cutaneous permeability from greatest to least permeable, the order established is rabbit > rat > pig > human. Although the rodent is still used for dermal toxicity testing, the minipig is now considered the animal model of choice for assessing dermal toxicity on the basis of the anatomical and physiological similarities between pig and human skin. The guinea pig is also considered an acceptable animal model for assessing cutaneous effects comparable to the rabbit, but its use is most often limited to evaluation of sensitization (Nixon et al. 1975). A good understanding of comparative anatomy and species- or strain-specific differences or variations is crucial to selecting an appropriate species, strain, and animal model for the concept under study.
Overview of Infertility
Steven R. Bayer, Michael M. Alper, Alan S. Penzias in The Boston IVF Handbook of Infertility, 2017
Aristotle of Stagira (384–322 BC) was one of the greatest Greek philosophers of his time and was also one of the greatest zoologists and naturalists of antiquity. Although not a physician, he discussed many issues relating to reproduction in his thesis The Generation of Animals. Aristotle gave to medicine certain fundamentals such as comparative anatomy and embryology. A common ancient method of interfering with male fertility was castration. Aristotle knew that castration makes a male infertile despite his belief that the testes are only weights holding down the spermatic passages and not the source of the seed. “For the testes are no part of the ducts but are only attached to them, as women fasten stones to the loom when weaving” [7]. He was probably misled by his observation that a recently castrated bull succeeded in impregnating a cow: “a bull mounting immediately after castration has caused conception in the cow because the ducts had not yet been drawn up” [7].
Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866–1945)
Krishna Dronamraju in A Century of Geneticists, 2018
W.E. Castle and his associates first used the fruit fly (Drosophila) for their research on the effects of inbreeding, and through them, F.E. Lutz became interested in it and the latter introduced it to Morgan, who was looking for less expensive material that could be bred in the very limited space at his command. Shortly after Morgan commenced work with this new material in 1909, a number of striking mutants turned up. His subsequent studies on this phenomenon ultimately enabled him to determine the precise behavior and exact localization of genes. His great success in genetic research using the fruit fly also resulted in an unintended consequence—making Drosophila the most famous experimental organism in the history of science, which, incidentally, also earned him a Nobel Prize in 1933. However, Morgan’s closest pupil and a successful scientist himself, A.H. Sturtevant (1967), wrote that “even if he had never seen a Drosophila in his life, his place in the history of biology would be a high one. Like most biologists—zoologists—of the period, he was trained in comparative anatomy and especially in descriptive embryology. His thesis was done on the embryology of the Pycnogonidae, the sea spiders, based on material collected…at Woods Hole. This paper was based on topics of descriptive embryology with the emphasis on phylogeny. This was the custom of the time—this what a zoologist did.”
Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus (1776–1827) on Gall’s craniognomic system, zoology, and comparative anatomy
Published in Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 2020
Eglė Sakalauskaitė-Juodeikienė, Paul Eling, Stanley Finger
In his 1815 Introductio in anatomen comparatam (Introduction to Comparative Anatomy; see Figure 2), one of his most important works, he described plant and animal similarities and differences. He covered appearance, habitation, generation, nutrition, respiration, temperature, irritability, sensation, voluntary movements, locomotion, body structure, and more. As Gall had been doing in his lectures, Bojanus began with lower forms of life and ended with humans, arguing that the human body is “at the highest peak of organization, the most developed and perfect“ (Bojanus 1815, 51). Also as Gall was already doing in his books, he considered the great chain of being, ladder of life, or what he considered evolution, a process—one in which simple structures become more complex (a simpliciore fabrica ad magis compositam et elaboratam ascendat; see Bojanus 1815, 5).
What Did They Know Then? A Journey Among the Giants of the Past
Published in Journal of Binocular Vision and Ocular Motility, 2018
Stephen Kraft
From 1720 to 1846, the chair of anatomy at the University of Edinburgh was occupied successively by three members of the Monro family, all known as Alexander Munro but identified individually by the suffixes Primus, Secundus, and Tertius. All three were gifted teachers and physicians, but the second member of the dynasty, Monro Secundus, is credited with making the most significant contributions to medicine (Figure 6). He did extensive research into gross and minute anatomy, comparative anatomy, physiology, and pathology. In 1764, he described the foramen connecting the lateral and third ventricles in the brain, labeled from then on as the Foramen of Monro, even though he noted that the structure was well known before his time. He also was one of the first to describe the lymphatic system, whose anatomy and function was not well understood. One of his students was the illustrious Philip Syng Physick (1768–1837), who would later return to the University of Pennsylvania and go on to be one of the foremost American surgeons and ophthalmologists of his time.
The Road Not Mapped: The Neuroethics Roadmap on Research with Nonhuman Primates
Published in AJOB Neuroscience, 2020
L. Syd M Johnson
Experimentation with nonhuman animals has a long history, dating back thousands of years, indicating an ancient recognition that biological structures and functions are similar across animal species, and that, as is understood today, humans are but another species of animal. Owing to taboos concerning the dissection of human bodies, ancient Greek physicians going back to at least 6 BCE dissected animals and performed vivisections for anatomical studies (Franco 2013). Continuity and similarity of species is not, of course, identity of species. 16th-century Flemish physician Vesalius realized that some anatomical structures found in nonhuman animals do not exist in humans. His illegal, sacrilegious dissection of human cadavers led to more accurate descriptions of human anatomy, and also laid the foundations for modern comparative anatomy (Franco 2013).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Anatomy
- DNA Sequencing
- Evolution
- Embryology
- Phylogenetic Tree
- Species
- Evolutionary Biology
- Evidence of Common Descent
- Natural Selection
- Systematics