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. 
Bernstein, I. S., Mason, W. A. 1963. Group formation by rhesus monkeys. Animal Behaviour 11, 28-31.
Barrett, A. M., Stockham, M. A. 1963. The effect of housing conditions and simple experimental procedures upon the corticosterone level in the plasma of rats. Journal of Endocrinology 26, 97-105.

The banging of metal cages in animal rooms can produce bursts of very intense noise triggering a significant adrenocortical stress response in rats.

Stone, W. G. 1962. Management practices in a normal monkey colony. Proceedings of the Animal Care Panel 12, 99-106.

Group housed animals caught with nets sustain frequent cuts, contusions and fractures. A standard turkey catching crate (84 cm x 41 cm x 53 cm) was modified to serve as means of caging for transport.

Rich, S., Cohen, B. J. 1962. A restraint unit for large monkeys. Proceedings of the Animal Care Panel 12, 113-116.

A traditional restraint technique to facilitate handling etc. is demonstrated.

Harlow, H. F. 1962. Fundamental principles for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 55, 893-896.

Since most experiments are not worth doing and the data obtained are not worth publishing, great care should be taken to protect one's reputation when one's name is associated with the conventional potboiler. This can...

Premack, D. 1962. Reversibility of the reinforcement relation. Science 136, 255-257.

Rats will increase feeding if this is contingent with wheel-running.

Mackintosh, J. H. 1962. Effect of strain and group size on the response of mice to sconal anaesthesia. Nature 194, 1304.

The variance of the response to a barbiturate anaesthetic was greater if male mice were caged either singly or in groups of eight than if they were caged in pairs.

Lockard, R. B. 1962. Some effects of maintenance luminance and strain differences upon self-exposure to light by rats. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 55, 1118-1123.

The different degrees of illumination in laboratories may be one of the explanations for variation in experimental results.

Denenberg, V. H., Morton, J. R. C. 1962. Effects of environmental complexity and social groupings upon the modification of emotional behavior. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 55, 242-246.

Environmental enrichment reduced open-filed defecation in rats.

Schloeth, R. 1961. Das Socialverhalten des Camargue-Rindes. Zeitschrift f?r Tierpsycholgie 18, 574-627.
Chance, M. R. A. 1961. The nature and special features of the instinctive social bond of primates. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology 31, 17-34.
Blaxter, K. L., Wainman, F. W. 1961. The utilization of food by sheep and cattle. Journal of Agricultural Science 57, 419-425.

Food restriction to obtain 'baseline' measurements can introduce uncontrolled data variability with some animals reacting with high [excitation], others with low [apathy] metabolism.

Aschoff, J. 1960. Exogenous and endogenous components in circadian rhythms. Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology 25, 11-28.

The running activity of hamsters is much higher at a light intensity of only 0.05 lux than 20 lux.

Wrightsman, L. S. 1960. Effects of waiting with other on changes in level of felt anxiety. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 61, 216-222.

The simple physical persence of others is sufficient to decrease self-reported anxiety.

Offer, D., Barglow, P. 1960. Adolescent and young adult self-mutilation incidents in a general psychiatric hospital. Archives of General Psychiatry 3, 194-204.

There were a variety of self-mutilation techniques, and the results ranged in severity from mild scratch to deep lacerations made with razor blades that required sutures. Attention seeking was a major motivation behind self-mutation behavior.

Mason, W. A. 1960. Socially mediated reduction in emotional responses of young rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 60, 100-110 .

Previous observations that social stimuli may function as a source of security and a means of mitigating emotional distress in young primates are fully supported by the present results.

Gay, W. I. 1960. A net designed for capturing caged monkeys. Proceedings of the Animal Care Panel 10, 75-78.

Conventional capture technique of caged monkeys is demonstrated.

Gisler, D. B., Benson, R. E., Young, R. J. 1960. Colony husbandry of research monkeys. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 85, 758-568.

The first problem encountered when dealing with the monkey is restraint. Monkeys over three years of age develop large canine teeth that make them more aggressive and, consequently, more dangerous and difficult to restrain. Two...

Woods, P. J., Ruckelshaus, S. I., Bowling, D. M. 1960. Some effects of free and restricted environmental rearing conditions upon adult behavior in the rat. Psychological Reports 6, 191-200.

Environmental enrichment enhances the exploratory drive.

McClearn, G. E. 1960. Strain differences in activity of mice: Influence of illumination. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 53, 142-143.
Levine, S. 1960. Stimulation in infancy. Scientific American 202(5), 80-86.

Both painful shocks and gentle handling enhance the development of normal stress responses in infant animals. The absence of such treament leads to behavioral disorders when the animal matures.

Krech, D., Rosenzweig, M. R., Bennett, E. L. 1960. Effects of environmental complexity and training on brain chemistry. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 53, 509-519.

Rats living in an enriched cage environment showed changes in brain chemistry when compared with animals living in barren standard cages.

Buxbaum, E. 1960. Hair pulling and fetishism. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 15, 243-260.

Hair pulling is only rarely partner-directed. Its aggressive aspect is underscored.

Anthony, A., Ackerman, E., Lloyd, J. A. 1959 . Noise stress in laboratory rodents. I. Behavioral and endocrine response of mice, rats and guinea pigs. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 31, 1430-1436.

Noise affects the endocrine system.

Anthony, A., Harclerode, J. E. 1959 . Noise stress in laboratory rodents. II: Effects of chronic noise exposure on sexual performance and reproductive function of guinea pigs. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 31, 1437-1440.

Chronic noise impacts reproductive performance in guinea pigs.