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. 
Henderson, N. D. 1970. Brain weight increases resulting from environmental enrichment: a directional dominance in mice. Science 169(947), 776-778.

Sets of our male and sets of four female C3HxBALB hybrid mice were raised in (1) small standard cages [280 cm2] that were barren, vs.(2) large test cages [1375 cm2] that were barren, vs.(3) large...

Ferchmin, P. E., Eterovic, V. A., Caputto, R. 1970. Studies of brain weight and RNA content after short periods of exposure to environmental complexity. Brain Research 20, 49-57.

Rats in Environmental Complexity (EC) were compared with litter mates maintained in Impoverished Conditions (IC) for various times. An initial relatively fast onset of the difference between the cerebral weight of the EC and IC...

Elkan, E. 1970. The management and the pathology of amphibians and reptiles. Veterinary Record 87, 197-199.
Collins, R. 1970. Experimental modification of brain weight and behavior in mice: An enrichment study. Psychobiology 3, 145-155.

The effects of environmental enrichment and isolation on cortical weight and learning ability were measured in mice from lines selectively bred for high and low brain weight and from an unselected control line from the...

Chance, M. R. A. , Jolly, C. J. 1970. Social Groups of Monkeys, Apes and Men. E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., New York, NY.
Carder, B., Berkowitz, K. 1970. Rats' preference for earned in comparison with free food. Science 167, 1273-1274.

When work demands are not too high, rats prefer earned food to free food.

Banerjee, B. N., Woodard, G. 1970. A comparison of outdoor and indoor housing of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Laboratory Animal Care [Laboratory Animal Science] 20, 80-82.

Survival in the outdoor pens averaged 80-90%, which was the same as for the indoor monkeys. Body weight gain in the outdoor monkeys averaged 62% increase, in comparison to 43% gain in the indoor monkeys...

Briese, E., deQuijada, M. G. 1970. Colonic temperature of rats during handling. Acta Physiologica Latinoamerica 20, 97-102.

When rats are gently handled, their core temperature rises as a stress response.

Bouissou, M. F. 1970. R?le du contact physique dans la manifestation des relations hierarchiques chez les bovins: cons?quences pratiques. Annales Zootechniques 19, 279-285.

Visual barriers have a protective effect for subordinate cows during feeding time.

Altman, N. H. 1970. Restraint of monkeys in clinical examination and treatment . Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 159, 1222.

Restraint is recommended because monkeys can inflict severe injuries to veterinarians...during medical examination and treatment..

Altmann, S. A. , Altmann, J. 1970. Baboon Ecology - African Field Research. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

Excellent overview of the species-typical behavior of wild baboons. At night, the baboons that we observed in Amboseli slept only in trees. In the Serengeti plains, on the other hand, baboons were observed on a...

Bernstein, I. S. 1969. Introductory techniques in the formation of pigtail monkey troops. Folia Primatologica 10, 1-19.

Different introduction options are compared.

Valerio, D. A., Miller, R. L., Innes, J. R. M. et al. 1969. Macaca Mulatta. Management of a Laboratory Breeding Colony. Academic Press, New York, NY.

The M. mulatta, an agile, unpredictable, and often vicious creature with sharp teeth .... deserves the respect of all persons who work with it [p. 44]. ... Personnel must wear heavy protective clothing - particularly...

Sluga W, G. J. 1969. Self-inflicted injury and self-mutilation in prisoners [article in German]. Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift 119, 453-459.
Scott, G. D., Gendreau, P. 1969. Psychiatric implications of sensory deprivation in a maximum security prison. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal 14, 337-341.
Neuringer, A. J. 1969. Animals respond for food in the presence of free food. Science 166, 399-401.

Pigeons pecked a response disk to gain access to grain rewards while identical grain was freely available ... Similarly, rats pressed a lever for food pellets while free pellets were present. ... The act of...

Mannino, F. V., Delgado, R. A. 1969. Trichotillomania: A review. American Journal of Psychiatry 10, 125-128.

Trichotillomania is especially common in young individuals.

Manning, P. J., Lehner, N. D. M., Feldner, M. A. et al. 1969. Selected hematologic, serum chemical, and arterial blood gas characteristics of squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). Laboratory Animal Care [Laboratory Animal Science] 19, 831-837.

Catching and restraint procedures resulted in respiratory alkalosis and metabolic acidosis. Sedation reduced, but did not eliminate this stress response.

International Association of Microbiological Societies 1969. Proposed procedure for the housing and handling of simians to decrease the transmission of disease to man. Laboratory Animal Handbooks 4, 255-266.

In general, simians should be handled only after they have been anaesthetized or suitably sedated. On no account should a person attempt to handle a simian alone; 2 persons should always be present, one of...

Gengozian, N. 1969. Marmosets: Their potential in experimental medicine. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 162, 336-362.

Conventional double-tier caging system with dark lower-rows is documented.

Falk, J. L. 1969. Conditions producing psychogenic polydipsia in animals. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 157, 569-593.
Weihe, W. H., Schidlow, J., Strittmatter, J. 1969. The effect of light intensity on the breeding and development of rats and golden hamsters. International Journal of Biometeorology 13, 69-79.

It was noticed that animals subjected to an illumination of 2000 lux were tame and playful with handling, while those at lower light intensities resisted handling and tried to bite when vaginal smear was taken...

Richards, M. 1969. Effects of oestrogen and progesterone on nest building in the golden hamster. Animal Behaviour 17, 356-361.

Nest building in golden hamsters was measured by daily removal and weighing of nests built with straw pulled in from a supply outside each cage. Females used increasing amounts of straw as pregnancy advanced. Similar...

Port, C. D., Kaltenbach, J. P. 1969. The effect of corncob bedding on reproductivity and leucine incorporation in mice. Laboratory Animal Care [Laboratory Animal Science] 19, 46-49.

Preweaning mortality was increased when the mice were housed on corncob bedding (22%) when compared with pine sawdust bedding (13%).

Porzig, E., Wenzel, G. 1969. Verhalten der Milchk?he nach der Umstellung aus dem Abkalbestall in den Boxenlaufstall. Tierzucht 23, 535-537.

The introduction of dairy cows to unfamiliar groups typically is accompanied by high agonistic tension and a reduction of productivity.