Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Asch·heim–Zon·dek test Pronunciation:
'äsh-"(h)Im-'zän-dik-, -'tsän- Function:
noun : a test formerly usedespecially to determine human pregnancy in its early stages on the basis of the effect of a subcutaneous injection of the patient's urine on the ovaries of an immature female mouse
Ascháheim /'äsh-"(h)Im/,
Selmor Samuel (1878–1965), and
Zonádek /'tson-"dek/,
Bernhard (1891–1966), German obstetrician-gynecologists.Aschheim and Zondek isolated the gonadotropic hormone of the anterior pituitary (which controls the growth of the reproductive system) in 1927. They also discovered the excretion of estrogen andgonadotropin in the urine of pregnant women. These discoveries led to the development in 1928 of their test for pregnancy. Zondek was also the author of a major work on the hormones of the ovary andthe anterior pituitary.
[ahsh-hahym-tson-dek, -zon-] 
