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. 
Suba-Bokodi, É., Nagy, I., Molnár, M. 2022. Changes in the stress tolerance of dwarf rabbits in animal-assisted interventions. Applied Sciences 12(14), 6979.

Background: Rabbits are common companion animals in many European countries. Rabbit-assisted interventions in primary schools are suitable for decreasing the anxiety levels of children, which may increase the education efficiency of teachers. Methods: In our...

Ikeya, K., Torisawa, S., Yamane, H. et al. 2022. Estimating the total length of Mekong giant catfish, Pangasianodon gigas, in an aquarium via stereo-video shooting and direct linear transformation. Zoo Biology 41(6), 554–559.

The Mekong giant catfish (MGC), Pangasianodon gigas, is one of the world’s largest catfish species. Endemic to the Mekong River system, the MGC is critically endangered. Six MGC were transported from Thailand to the Gifu...

Aigueperse, N., Vasseur, E. 2021. Providing an outdoor exercise area affects tie-stall cow reactivity and human-cow relations. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 1172.

Confinement and restriction of movement are a reality for most dairy cows. Providing outdoor access is one method to increase movement opportunities. However, leading cows to an outdoor exercise area increases their exposure to manipulations...

Powell, A. 2021. Rubber net mesh reduces scale loss during routine handling of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Animal Welfare 30(1), 19-24.

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are an economically and ecologically important fish species that interact with humans during farming, fishing and research operations. Routine handling in nets exposes fish to mesh and causes scale loss. To...

Casey, K. M., Gore, F., Vilches-Moure, J. G. et al. 2021. Management of morbidity and mortality in a New Zealand white rabbit model of steroidinduced osteonecrosis of the femoral head. Comparative Medicine 71(1), 86-98.

Steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (SONFH) is a condition documented in humans and animals exposed to chronic steroid administration. The rabbit has become a preferred animal model for investigating the pathogenesis and treatment of...

Atkinson, J., Boden, T., Mocho J.-P. et al. 2021. Refining the unilateral ureteral obstruction mouse model: No sham, no shame. Laboratory Animals 55(1), 21-29.

Fibrosis, as a common final pathway in many renal diseases, contributes significantly to the decline of organ function and to progression to end-stage renal disease. To establish therapeutic interventions that target fibrosis, animal models are...

Justin, M., Jež, M., Košir, A. et al. 2021. Application of the 3R principles: Vertebrae as an additional source of murine bone-marrow cells. Laboratory Animals 55(1), 43-52.

Experimental murine models are an essential tool in the field of bone marrow (BM) transplantation research. Therefore, numerous mice are required to obtain a sufficient number of BM cells, which is in contrast with the...

Blaney, A., Jampachaisri, K., Huss, M. K. et al. 2021. Sustained release buprenorphine effectively attenuates postoperative hypersensitivity in an incisional pain model in neonatal rats (Rattus norvegicus). PLOS ONE 16(2), e0246213.

Despite the need for safe and effective postoperative analgesia in neonates, research regarding pain management in neonatal rodents is relatively limited. Here, we investigate whether sustained release buprenorphine (Bup SR) effectively attenuates thermal hypersensitivity in...

Chaumont, S., Freitas-de-Melo, A., Pinto-Santini, L., Menant, O. et al. 2021. Rams recognize and prefer the human who regularly brushed them. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105250.

Brushing produces a relaxing effect and improves the welfare of ewes and lambs and the human-animal relationship. Lambs gently handled during rearing are less fearful to humans in their adulthood, but there are few studies...

Sørensen, D., Cloutier, S., Gaskill, B. (Eds.). 2021. Animal-centric Care and Management - Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

The concept of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) has been used as a framework for improving the welfare of laboratory animals for the last half century. By establishing an animal-centric view on housing and...

Martinic, G. 2021. Husbandry and healthcare of the Olive python (Liasis olivaceus). Animal Technology and Welfare 20(1), 44-50.

The article describes the care of the Olive python (Liasis olivaceus) including information on housing, feeding, handling, as well as the general health care of these animals. Some of the information presented is derived from...

Stevens, C., Hawkins, P., Smulders, T. V. et al. 2021. Report of the 2020 RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(1), 21-33.

The RSPCA/UFAW rodent and rabbit welfare group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 27 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues and share...

Giménez-Llort, L., Torres-Lista, V. 2021. Social nesting, animal welfare, and disease monitoring. Animals 11(4), 1079.

The assessment of welfare and disease progression in animal models is critical. Most tools rely on evaluating individual subjects, whereas social behaviors, also sensitive to acute illness, chronic diseases, or mental health, are scarcely monitored...

Silva-Reis, R., Faustino-Rocha, A. I., Gonçalves, M. et al. 2021. Refinement of animal model of colorectal carcinogenesis through the definition of novel humane endpoints. Animals 11(4), 985.

This study aimed to define appropriate humane endpoints (HEs) for an animal model of colorectal carcinogenesis (CRC). Twenty-nine male Wistar rats were divided into two control groups (CTRL1 and CTRL2) injected with ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid...

Bista, D., Lama, S. T., Weerman, J. et al. 2021. Improved trapping and handling of an arboreal, montane mammal: Red panda Ailurus fulgens. Animals 11(4), 921.

It is sometimes essential to have an animal in the hand to study some of their ecological and biological characteristics. However, capturing a solitary, cryptic, elusive arboreal species such as the red panda in the...

Vis, A., Lammers, J. C. A. M., de Vroege, R. et al. 2021. Strategies to improve survival from surgery for heart valve implantation in sheep. Comparative Medicine 71(3), 235-239.

Sheep are a commonly used and validated model for cardiovascular research and, more specifically, for heart valve research. Implanting a heart valve on the arrested heart in sheep is complex and is often complicated by...

Bombail, V., Brown, S. M., Hammond, T. J. et al. 2021. Crying with laughter: Adapting the tickling protocol to address individual differences among rats in their response to playful handling. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 677872.

In this Opinion paper, we consider whether current methods of tickling overemphasize the use of pinning (Figure 1) to which there may be a wider response variation than commonly acknowledged. We do not dispute that...

Perea, C., Vázquez-Ágredos, A., Ruiz-Leyva, L. et al. 2021. Caloric restriction in group-housed mice: Littermate and sex influence on behavioral and hormonal data. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 639187.

Much of the research done on aging, oxidative stress, anxiety, and cognitive and social behavior in rodents has focused on caloric restriction (CR). This often involves several days of single housing, which can cause numerous...

Xu, J. J., Thurston, S. E., Robinson, T. J. et al. 2021. Effects of analgesics on tumor growth in mouse models of prostate cancer bone metastasis. JAALAS 60(3), 341-348.

Murine models of tumor development often require invasive procedures for tumor implantation, potentially causing pain or distress. However, analgesics are often withheld during implantation because of concerns that they may adversely affect tumor development. Previous...

Koch, A. L., Rusnak, M., Peachee, K. et al. 2021. Comparison of the effects of osmotic pump implantation with subcutaneous injection for administration of drugs after total body irradiation in mice. Laboratory Animals 55(2), 142-149.

The increasing potential for radiation exposure from nuclear accidents or terrorist activities has intensified the need to develop pharmacologic countermeasures against injury from total body irradiation (TBI). Many initial experiments to develop and test these...

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...

Huber, N., Mahr, K., Tóth, Z. et al. 2021. The stressed bird in the hand: Influence of sampling design on the physiological stress response in a free-living songbird. Physiology & Behavior 238, 113488.

Despite the widely used application of standardized capture-handling protocols to collect blood and assess the physiological stress response, the actual sampling design (e.g., timing and the number of blood samples) often differs between studies, and...

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...

Argüelles, J., Echaniz, M., Bowen, J. et al. 2021. The impact of a stress-reducing protocol on the quality of pre-anaesthesia in cats. Veterinary Record 188(12), e138.

Introduction: Transport to the clinic is a major source of stress for cats. The process involves being put into a carrier, driven in a car and handled. Cats are therefore removed from the safe-haven of...

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...