The Musee Fragonard is a historic museum dedicated to animals located in the Ecole Veterinaire d’Alfort. The museum holds collections of many animal bones, 3-D examples of animal structures, remannts of many genetic anomalies, and much more. The museum was founded in 1766 and is one of the oldest museums in France. Though the museum is created for veterinary knowledge, and includes content related to animal medicine, because animals are useful for insight to human anatomy and physiology, the museum was actually instrumental to the beginning of comprehending the human body from a medical perspective. Many of the physically abnormal animals possessed genetic diseases that could be seen in humans, allowing for these animals to act as model organisms for insight to human genetics. Moreover, the museum even possessed human skeletons, fetuses, and other persevered body parts, showing how the museum’s collection was dedicated to understanding anatomy and physiology for all organisms across taxa.
This got me thinking about how simply observing model organisms paved a path to better understanding human genetics. This technique is still used today and allows for conserving ethical values regarding concerns of clinical trials. Studies use preliminary research on flies, mice, primates, ect before advancing research to human subjects. Even before laying out medical ethics, the understanding that learning more about ourselves from other animal models still held true.
Many examples of animal testing leading to revolutionary insights in science, and specifically neuroscience, are present in today’s global research world. In fact, animal experiments compose the majority of molecular, medicinal research. An example of this is our understanding of the human clock-controlled genes. This field initially stemmed from the model organism of flies, mice, and even mold. Today researchers can understand transcriptional feedback about the human clock, which certainly never could have been possible without these organisms. How far we have come in chronobiology can be solely attributed to animal studies. The discovery of the superchiasmatic nucleus’s intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells came from animal studies which then lead to an understanding of our own neuronal anatomy. ipRGCs are directly sensitive to photons and allow for our brain to entrain to the time of day based on light. These cells were actually first observed in clock mutant mice (Freedman et al., 1999) then later discovered in humans, which is still extensively researched today (Joyce et al., 2018).
Looking at animals and organisms to understand ourselves is a historic research method. I believe this museum reflects this technique, and demonstrates how closely related we are to the animals with which co-inhabit this earth.
Works Cited
Freedman, M. S., Lucas, R. J., Soni, B., Von Schantz, M., Muñoz, M., David-Gray, Z., & Foster, R. (1999). Regulation of mammalian circadian behavior by non-rod, non-cone, ocular photoreceptors. Science, 284(5413), 502-504. DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5413.502
Joyce, D. S., Feigl, B., Kerr, G., Roeder, L., & Zele, A. J. (2018). Melanopsin-mediated pupil function is impaired in Parkinson’s disease. Scientific Reports, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26078-0