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. 
Wurbel, H., Stauffacher, M. 1994. Standard-Haltung fur Labormause - Probleme und Losungsasatze. Tierlaboratorium 17, 109-118.

The high prevalence of stereotypies in mice kept in standard animal facilities is underscored.

Pough, F. H. 1991. Recommendations for the care of amphibians and reptiles in academic institutions. ILAR Journal 33(4), S1-S21.

Amphibians and reptiles differ in many respects from the mammals and birds most commonly used in biomedical research. These differences affect the physical and biological requirements of amphibians and reptiles in captivity. In this contribution...

Duncan, I. J., Petherick, J. C. 1991. The implications of cognitive processes for animal welfare. Journal of Animal Science 69(12), 5017–5022.

In general, codes that have been designed to safeguard the welfare of animals emphasize the importance of providing an environment that will ensure good health and a normal physiological and physical state, that is, they...

Chamove, A. S. 1989. Environmental enrichment: A review. Animal Technology 40(3), 155-178.

The aims of this contribution are to look at three areas which are addressed by enrichment studies, within the context of a review: (1) the problems produced by spatial restriction, (2) the goals of enrichment...

Beaver, B. V. 1989. Environmental enrichment for laboratory animals. ILAR Journal 31(2), 5-13.

A review of enrichment studies.

Boyd, J. 1988. Mice. Humane Innovations and Alternatives in Animal Experimentation 2, 49-50.

Description of an ingenious, simple method to minimize odor, provide species-appropriate nesting opportunities and to facilitate cleaning.

National Research Council. 1985. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, 6th Edition. National Institutes of Health: Bethesda, MD.

Good husbandry minimizes variations that can modify an animal's response to experimentation [p. 11]] ...Lighting should be uniformly diffused throughout animal facilities to provide sufficient illumination to aid in maintaining good houskeeping practices, adequate inspection...

Panksepp, J., Herman, B. H., Vilberg, T. et al. 1980. Endogenous opioids and social behavior. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 4(4), 473-487.

Evidence for the hypothesis that brain-opioids mediate social affect and social attachments is summarized. Opiates and opioids are very effective in reducing social separation-induced distress vocalizations (DVs), in puppies, young guinea pigs and chicks, while...

Dawkins, M. S. 1980. Animal Suffering - The Science of Animal Welfare. Chapman and Hall, London, UK.

I wrote this book because I believe that the welfare of animals is a very important subject but one about which there is a lot of confusion and muddled thinking. I wanted to great deal...

Peterson, E. A. 1980. Noise and laboratory animals. Laboratory Animal Science 30, 422-439.

The preponderance of experimental evidence gathered over the past three decades indicates that exposure to intense noise can lead to a wide variety of functional and structural changes in laboratory animals. Although little information regarding...

Mantel, N. 1980. Assessing laboratory evidence for neoplastic activity. Biometics 36, 381-399.

Mortality and tumor incidence in corcinogenesis experiments differ between mice caged in the top vs. bottom of the rack.

Herreid, C. F., Schlenker, E. H. 1980. Energetics of mice in stable and unstable social conditions: evidence of an air-borne factor affecting metabolism. Animal Behaviour 28, 20-28.

Male mice kept individually have a 15% higher metabolic rate than mice kept in stable same gender pairs.

Gutwein, B. M., Fishbein, W. 1980. Paradoxical sleep and memory (I): Selective alterations following enriched and impoverished environmental rearing. Brain Research Bulletin 5(1), 9-12.

Mice were reared in either enriched (EE), social control, (SE), or impoverished (IE) environments for 30 days. Environmental enrichment results in a significant and selective increase in paradoxical sleep (PS, or REM sleep) and also...

Hallopeau, H. 1889. Alopecie par grattage (trichomania ou trichotillomania). Annales de Dermatologie et de Syphiligraphie 10, 440-441.

Suggests the term trichotillomania .