Refinement Database

Database on Refinement of Housing, Husbandry, Care, and Use of Animals in Research

This database, created in 2000, is updated every four months with newly published scientific articles, books, and other publications related to improving or safeguarding the welfare of animals used in research.

Tips for using the database:

  • This landing page displays all of the publications in the database.
  • Use the drop-down menus to filter these publications by Animal Type, Setting, and/or Topic.
  • Clicking on a parent category (e.g., Rodent) will include publications relating to all the items in that category (e.g., Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea Pig, etc.).
  • You may also add a keyword to further narrow your search.
  • Please note that at this time, only publications dated 2010 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Animal Type and Topic, and only publications dated 2020 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Setting. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 
Song, M. K., Lee, J. H., Kim, Y.-J. 2021. Effect of chronic handling and social isolation on emotion and cognition in adolescent rats. Physiology & Behavior 237, 113440.

Adolescence is a critical period of establishing social relations through social interactions that affect the emotional development associated with stress responses, anxiety, depression, and cognitive development. We investigated the behavioral and neurobiological changes induced by...

Ratuski, A. S., Weary, D. M. 2021. A break from the pups: The effects of loft access on the welfare of lactating laboratory rats. PLOS ONE 16(6), e0253020.

Rats (Rattus norvegicus) bred for research are typically confined with their litters until weaning, but will spend time away from pups when given the opportunity. We aimed to assess how dam welfare is affected by...

Zieglowski, L., Kümmecke, A. M., Ernst, L. et al. 2021. Assessing the severity of laparotomy and partial hepatectomy in male rats—A multimodal approach. PLOS ONE 16(8), e0255175.

This study assessed the postoperative severity after three different visceral surgical interventions in rats by using objective parameters pertaining to various disciplines. The objective was to evaluate whether the degree of severity increases with the...

Ferguson, K., Fisher, Z. 2021. The effects of bedding material on the treatment of mild pododermatitis in the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus). RATEL (Journal of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers) 48(1), 18-22.

One of our colony’s five guinea pigs started to develop a moderate case of pododermatitis (bumblefoot) on one paw, which staff were keen to alleviate to prevent any detrimental effects that this might have on...

Komatsu, T., Ohta, H., Motegi, H. et al. 2021. A novel model of ischemia in rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion using a microcatheter and zirconia ball under fluoroscopy. Scientific Reports 11(1), 12806.

Here, we present a highly selective rat MCAO model by percutaneous caudal arterial puncture using a microcatheter and zirconia ball under fluoroscopic guidance. The model is predictable and reproducible, which is well confined within the...

Yu, J. H., Brown, J., Boisseau, N. et al. 2021. Effects of Lupron and surgical castration on fecal androgen metabolite concentrations and intermale aggression in capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). Zoo Biology 40(2), 135-141.

To curb agonistic interactions in a bachelor group of three male capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), a single dose of leuprolide acetate (Lupron®) was used in an attempt to chemically sterilize the males. Concurrently, fecal androgen metabolite...

Silva, A. V., Norinder, U., Liiv, E. et al. 2021. Associations between clinical signs and pathological findings in toxicity testing. ALTEX 38(2), 198-214.

Animal testing for toxicity assessment of chemicals and pharmaceuticals must take the 3R principles into consideration. During toxicity testing in vivo, clinical signs are used to monitor animal welfare and to inform about potential toxicity...

Satokar, V., Vickers, M., Bridge-Comer, P. et al. 2021. Emulsified gels: A refined vehicle for accurate and rapid oral administration of lipid based preparations to rats. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(2), 95-103.

Oro-gastric gavage is used to accurately administer nutritional substances or drugs to animals. However, it induces stress and has a substantial risk of mishap. Incorporation into edible gels is difficult for lipid-based preparations. We report...

Windsor, Z. 2021. Refinements in head plate mouse nesting: Using composite nests to enhance welfare. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(2), 135-141.

When given the opportunity, mice will choose to build nests using multiple different materials. Studies indicate that providing mice with choices which mimic the natural environment allows laboratory mice to build the best quality nests...

Moore, J., Wickert, M. 2021. Thinking outside of the tunnel for non-aversive mouse handling. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(2), 161-163.

The key to non-aversive methods of handling lies in understanding what capture method creates the least anxiety in mice: be this tunnel or cupping or another method. It is important that we do not get...

Archibald, W., Glynn, C. 2021. Refining cages for social housing of non-human primates on ADME studies. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(2), 172-174.

The assessment and understanding of Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Elimination (ADME) for new pharmaceuticals is required in regulatory submissions. Typically, ADME studies are conducted using metabolism cages designed for the single housing of animals to...

Peploe, J., MacAulay, C. 2021. Laboratory primate enrichment ideas. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(2), 177-183.

There are several items we often use in animal facilities that when finished with are thrown away. However, many of these items come in packaging that can be recycled as enrichment for our animals, particularly...

Burn, C. C., Popat, R. 2021. A tunnel is not enough: Mice benefit from in-cage provision of a communal shelter as well as a handling tunnel. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(3), 203-210.

Mouse shelters can provide mice with security, help them thermoregulate, offer darkness to prevent damage to their eyes and enable climbing and gnawing opportunities. For laboratory mice, there is a vast array of commercially available...

Dickinson, A. 2021. Maximising efficacy of your health monitoring programme. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(3), 255-257.

There are a multitude of health monitoring techniques/ methods available. It can be difficult to know which of these to use and when to use them. This is an attempt to simplify, maximise the efficacy...

Obermueller, B., Castellani, C., Till, H. et al. 2021. An examination of nest-building behaviour using five different nesting materials in C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice. Animal Welfare 30(4), 467-477.

The aim of our study was to assess the nest-building behaviour of two mouse (Mus musculus) strains using different nesting materials and examine possible sex- and housing-specific effects. Adult mice of two strains (C57BL/6J; n...

Xie, W., Kordt, M., Palme, R. et al. 2021. Diagnostic ability of methods depicting distress of tumor-bearing mice. Animals 11(8), 2155.

Subcutaneous tumor models in mice are the most commonly used experimental animal models in cancer research. To improve animal welfare and the quality of scientific studies, the distress of experimental animals needs to be minimized...

Brajon, S., Morello, G. M., Capas-Peneda, S. et al. 2021. All the pups we cannot see: Cannibalism masks perinatal death in laboratory mouse breeding but infanticide is rare. Animals 11(8), 2327.

Perinatal mortality is a major issue in laboratory mouse breeding. We compared a counting method using daily checks (DAILY_CHECK) with a method combining daily checks with detailed video analyses to detect cannibalisms (VIDEO_TRACK) for estimating...

Travain, T., Valsecchi, P. 2021. Infrared thermography in the study of animals’ emotional responses: A critical review. Animals 11(9), 2510.

Whether animals have emotions was historically a long-lasting question but, today, nobody disputes that they do. However, how to assess them and how to guarantee animals their welfare have become important research topics in the...

Rodriguez-Sanchez, R., Barnaby, E., Améndola, L. et al. 2021. Voluntary oral ingestion of a sedative prior to euthanasia with CO2: Behavioural responses of mice. Animals 11(10), 2879.

Laboratory mice are commonly euthanised with carbon dioxide (CO2); however, there is ample evidence that this gas is aversive. Previous work suggests that sedation achieved via injection with benzodiazepines prior to CO2 administration could reduce...

Mieske, P., Diederich, K., Lewejohann, L. 2021. Roaming in a land of milk and honey: Life trajectories and metabolic rate of female inbred mice living in a semi naturalistic environment. Animals 11(10), 3002.

Despite tremendous efforts at standardization, the results of scientific studies can vary greatly, especially when considering animal research. It is important to emphasize that consistent different personality-like traits emerge and accumulate over time in laboratory...

Prior, H., Blunt, H., Crossman, L. et al. 2021. Refining procedures within regulatory toxicology studies: Improving animal welfare and data. Animals 11(11), 3057.

During the development of potential new medicines or agrochemicals, an assessment of the safety profile to humans and environmental species is conducted using a range of different in silico and in vitro techniques in conjunction...

Xie, W., Palme, R., Schafmayer, C. et al. 2021. Distress analysis of mice with cervical arteriovenous fistulas. Animals 11(11), 3051.

The welfare of laboratory animals is a consistent concern for researchers. Its evaluation not only fosters ethical responsibility and addresses legal requirements, but also provides a solid basis for a high quality of research. Recently...

Diana, A., Salas, M., Pereboom, Z. et al. 2021. A systematic review of the use of technology to monitor welfare in zoo animals: Is there space for improvement? Animals 11(11), 3048.

A top priority of modern zoos is to ensure good animal welfare (AW), thus, efforts towards improving AW monitoring are increasing. Welfare assessments are performed through more traditional approaches by employing direct observations and time-consuming...

Minie, V. A., Petric, R., Ramos-Maciel, S. et al. 2021. Enriched laboratory housing increases sensitivity to social stress in female California mice (Peromyscus californicus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 241, 105381.

Domesticated mice and rats have shown to be powerful model systems for biomedical research, but there are cases in which the biology of species is a poor match for the hypotheses under study. The California...

MacLellan, A., Fureix, C., Polanco, A. et al. 2021. Can animals develop depression? An overview and assessment of “depression-like” states. Behaviour 158(14/15), 1303–1353.

Describing certain animal behaviours as 'depression-like' or 'depressive' has become common across several fields of research. These typically involve unusually low activity or unresponsiveness and/or reduced interest in pleasure (anhedonia). While the term 'depression-like' carefully...