[Diabetes, from the Origins of the Problem to the Nobel Prize. Bioethics].

Analysis of scientific works from the creation of an experimental model of diabetes before discovery insulin was done. Emphasized is the priority of the Russian pathologist L. W. Sobolew (1876-1919) in the discovery of the endocrine function of the pancreas in experimental animals - rabbits, dogs, cats. In 1923 Canadian scientists Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel prize for the discovery of insulin. However, the methods and the idea of Nobel laureates were the same that had been developed 20 years earlier by the Russian scientists. Currently, the incidence of diabetes and related pathologies of organs and systems are growing. The use of animals in experimental biology and medicine will continue for the foreseeable future. The benefits to science and medicine derived from the use of animals in research are undeniable, but this process inevitably increases the responsibility of researchers. It is required constant work on improvement of the experimental methods in order to minimize pain, stress, and the number of animals used in the experiment.