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. 
Robinson, L. M., Weiss, A. (Eds.) 2023. Nonhuman Primate Welfare: From History, Science, and Ethics to Practice. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. 671 p.

This volume reviews the broad topic of welfare in nonhuman primates under human care. Chapters detail the history of primates in captivity, ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of nonhuman primates as entertainment or...

Malik, A., Zavadil, J. A., Geusz, M. E. 2023. Using bioluminescence to image gene expression and spontaneous behavior in freely moving mice. PLOS ONE 18(1), e0279875.

Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) of gene expression in live animals is a powerful method for monitoring development, tumor growth, infections, healing, and other progressive, long-term biological processes. BLI remains an effective approach for reducing the number...

Palumbo, G., Kunze, L. H., Oos, R. et al. 2023. Longitudinal studies on Alzheimer disease mouse models with multiple tracer PET/CT: Application of reduction and refinement principles in daily practice to safeguard animal welfare during progressive aging. Animals 13(11), 1812.

Longitudinal studies on mouse models related to Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology play an important role in the investigation of therapeutic targets to help pharmaceutical research in the development of new drugs and in the attempt...

Quante, S. M., Siewert, V., Palme, R. et al. 2023. The power of a touch: Regular touchscreen training but not its termination affects hormones and behavior in mice. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17, 1112780.

Touchscreen-based procedures are increasingly used in experimental animal research. They not only represent a promising approach for translational research, but have also been highlighted as a powerful tool to reduce potential experimenter effects in animal...

Ruvira, S., Rodríguez-Rodríguez, P., Cañas, S. et al. 2023. Evaluation of parameters which influence voluntary ingestion of supplements in rats. Animals 13(11), 1827.

Drug safety and efficacy studies frequently use oral gavage, but repetitive usage may cause problems. Administration through voluntary ingestion represents an opportunity for refinement. We aimed to develop a protocol for voluntary ingestion of gelatin-based...

Swan, J., Boyer, S., Westlund, K. et al. 2023. Decreased levels of discomfort in repeatedly handled mice during experimental procedures, assessed by facial expressions. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17, 1109886.

Mice are the most commonly used laboratory animal, yet there are limited studies which investigate the effects of repeated handling on their welfare and scientific outcomes. Furthermore, simple methods to evaluate distress in mice are...

Lupfer, G., Brandenburger, A., Machado, M. et al. 2023. Ultrasonic vocalizations near 30 kHz may indicate excitement rather than distress in female Wistar rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 261, 105881.

Rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), sometimes referred to as 50-kHz vocalizations, during activities such as play and lower-frequency USVs, sometimes referred to as 22-kHz vocalizations, when experiencing distress. Definitions of 22-kHz vocalizations vary in terms...

Attokaren, M. K., Jeong, N., Blanpain, L. et al. 2023. BrainWAVE: A flexible method for noninvasive stimulation of brain rhythms across species. ENeuro 10(2) ENEURO.0257-22.2022.

Rhythmic neural activity, which coordinates brain regions and neurons to achieve multiple brain functions, is impaired in many diseases. Despite the therapeutic potential of driving brain rhythms, methods to noninvasively target deep brain regions are...

Broadfoot, C. K., Lenell, C., Kelm-Nelson, C. A. et al. 2023. Effects of social isolation on 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations, affective state, cognition, and neurotransmitter concentrations in the ventral tegmental and locus coeruleus of adult rats. Behavioural Brain Research 437, 114157.

Vocal communication, cognition, and affective state are key features of sustained health and wellness, and because vocalizations are often socially-motivated, social experience likely plays a role in these behaviors. The monoaminergic systems of the ventral...

Bramati, G., Stauffer, P., Nigri, M. et al. 2023. Environmental enrichment improves hippocampus-dependent spatial learning in female C57BL/6 mice in novel IntelliCage sweet reward-based behavioral tests. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17.

The IntelliCage is an automated home-cage system that allows researchers to investigate the spontaneous behavior and learning abilities of group-housed mice. The IntelliCage enables us to increase the standardization and reproducibility of behavioral outcomes by...

Esparza, K. 2023, August. Moving away from soiled bedding sentinels—The (R)evolution in rodent health screening. Animal Technology and Welfare 22(2), 158–160.

Traditional health monitoring methods consisted of Soiled Bedding Sentinels (SBS (i.e. animals exposed to dirty bedding from colony animals)), which require the euthanasia of SBS. Numerous studies have demonstrated that SBS may not accurately represent...

Marin, N., Moragon, A., Gil, D. et al. 2023. Acclimation and blood sampling: Effects on stress markers in C57Bl/6J mice. Animals 13(18), 2816.

Blood sampling in rodents is common practice in scientific studies. Some of the refined methods widely used are the puncture of the saphenous vein or tail vein, or even tail docking. The handling needs of...

Menard, J., Bagheri, S., Menon, S. et al. 2023. Noninvasive sampling of the small intestinal chyme for microbiome, metabolome and antimicrobial resistance genes in dogs, a proof of concept. Animal Microbiome 5(1), 64.

Background The gastrointestinal microbiome and metabolome vary greatly throughout the different segments of the gastrointestinal tract, however current knowledge of gastrointestinal microbiome and metabolome in health and disease is limited to fecal samples due to...

Pérez-Martín, E., Coto-Vilcapoma, A., Castilla-Silgado, J. et al. 2023. Refining stereotaxic neurosurgery techniques and welfare assessment for long-term intracerebroventricular device implantation in rodents. Animals 13(16), 2627.

Stereotaxic surgeries enable precise access to specific brain regions, being of particular interest for chronic intracerebroventricular drug delivery. However, the challenge of long-term studies at this level is to allow the implantation of drug storage...

Vaz, J., McElligott, A. G., Narayan, E. 2022. Linking the roles of personality and stress physiology for managing the welfare of captive big cats. Animal Welfare 31(1), 99-111.

Animal welfare is important for the humane treatment of animals under our care. Zoos and rescue centres manage various charismatic animals, such as big cats, with limited resources. It is therefore essential for caretakers to...

Wess, L., Böhm, A., Schützinger, M. et al. 2022. Effect of cooperative care training on physiological parameters and compliance in dogs undergoing a veterinary examination – A pilot study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 250, 105615.

One way to reduce fear and lack of compliance during veterinary procedures is ‘cooperative care training’, training animals to voluntarily participate in husbandry and medical care. Here we assessed the effects of cooperative care training...

Schilling, A.-K., Mazzamuto, M. V., Romeo, C. 2022. A review of non-invasive sampling in wildlife disease and health research: What’s new? Animals 12(13), 1719.

In the last decades, wildlife diseases and the health status of animal populations have gained increasing attention from the scientific community as part of a One Health framework. Furthermore, the need for non-invasive sampling methods...

Johansson, Ö, Kachel, S., Weckworth, B. 2022. Guidelines for telemetry studies on snow leopards. Animals 12(13), 1663.

Animal-borne tracking devices have generated a wealth of new knowledge, allowing us to better understand, manage and conserve species. Fitting such tracking devices requires that animals are captured and often chemically immobilized. Such procedures cause...

Knaebe, B., Weiss, C. C., Zimmermann, J. et al. 2022. The promise of behavioral tracking systems for advancing primate animal welfare. Animals 12(13), 1648.

Recent years have witnessed major advances in the ability of computerized systems to track the positions of animals as they move through large and unconstrained environments. These systems have so far been a great boon...

Svartberg, K. 2022. A possible basis for personality in dogs: Individual differences in affective predispositions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 255, 105740.

Previously, dog personality traits that seem to correspond have been identified by the Dog Mentality Assessment (DMA) and the Behaviour and Personality Assessment in Dogs (BPH): Playfulness, Sociability, Curiosity/fearlessness (DMA) vs. Non-social fearfulness (BPH), Aggressiveness...

Ahrens Kress, A. P., Zhang, Y., Kaiser-Vry, A. R. et al. 2022. A Comparison of blood collection techniques in mice and their effects on welfare. JAALAS 61(3), 287-295.

Multiple methods are used to collect blood from mice; these methods have different effects on animal welfare. This study compared blood collection from facial, chin, and saphenous locations with regard to various parameters, including the...

Fares, R., Flénet, T., Vial, J. et al. 2022. Non invasive jacketed telemetry in socially-housed rats for a combined assessment of respiratory system, electrocardiogram and activity using the DECRO system. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 117, 107195.

Respiratory and cardiovascular systems are among the vital organ systems that should be studied in safety pharmacology core battery test. Non-invasive jacketed external telemetry technology that enables concomitant monitoring of both systems has been available...

Xie, W., Lorenz, M., Poosch, F. et al. 2022. 3D-printed lightweight dorsal skin fold chambers from PEEK reduce chamber-related animal distress. Scientific Reports 12(1), 11599.

The dorsal skinfold chamber is one of the most important in vivo models for repetitive longitudinal assessment of microcirculation and inflammation. This study aimed to refine this model by introducing a new lightweight chamber made...

Tivey, E. K. L., Martin, J. E., Brown, S. M. et al. 2022. Sex differences in 50 kHz call subtypes emitted during tickling-induced playful behaviour in rats. Scientific Reports 12(1), 15323.

‘Tickling’ induces positive affective states in laboratory rats as evidenced by the production of 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalisations (USVs), although this has mostly been investigated in males. Juvenile rats emit distinctive 50-kHz USV subtypes. Frequency-modulated (FM)...

Chen, T., Zhou, Z.-Y., Liu, J.-Y. et al. 2022. Impact of partial bile duct ligation with or without repeated magnetic resonance imaging examinations in mice. Scientific Reports 12(1), 21014.

Partial bile duct ligation (pBDL) is considered a well-tolerated cholestatic model. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the most widely used tools in noninvasive imaging. However, no systematic studies have reported the possible effects...