-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
MARIA ISABEL MELLO, CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF TOADS AND FROGS IN CAPTIVITY, FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF GALLI MAININI'S PREGNANCY TEST, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 9, Issue 12, 1 December 1949, Pages 1372–1378, https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem-9-12-1372
Close - Share Icon Share
Abstract
HOGBEN in 1930 (1) was the first to introduce the female South African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis Daud. as a test animal for the diagnosis of pregnancy and recently several papers have appeared on this test and the ways of breeding the clawed frog (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Other batrachia have been tried for the diagnosis of pregnancy and Kehl in 1944 (8) demonstrated that Discoglossus (anura) from South Africa presents the same advantages as the Xenopus.
An investigation of the possibilities of breeding Xenopus laevis was started in our laboratory in September 1946 and a preliminary report on breeding and rearing Xenopus tadpoles was published (9). The technic of care and nourishment of the tadpoles is that recommended by Gasche (10) with slight modification. To induce spawning, the females were injected subcutaneously with a gonadotropic preparation1 and two hours later the males were injected with half the dose given to the female. In subsequent experiments it was verified that fertilized eggs can be obtained at any time of the year. Complete metamorphosis of the tadpoles was observed within thirty to ninety days, and two pairs of this generation, Xenopus laevisF1, aged 6 to 8 months were successfully mated, after injection with gonadotropic hormone from sheep hypophysis. Subsequently, four generations were mated with good results and they are still in good condition in the aquarium of the laboratory.
