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...

Pennington, E., Springer, C., Albright, J. et al. 2023. Evaluation of different methods of environmental enrichment to control anxiety in dogs undergoing hemilaminectomy after acute intervertebral disc extrusion: A randomized double-blinded study. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10, 1124982.

The goal of this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study was to evaluate the effect of environmental enrichment (EE) on post-operative pain and anxiety in dogs following hemilaminectomy for acute intervertebral disc extrusion (IVDE).MethodsTwenty healthy client-owned dogs...

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...

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...

Paranjape, V. V., Garcia-Pereira, F. L., Menciotti, G. et al. 2023. Evaluation of electrical cardiometry for measuring cardiac output and derived hemodynamic variables in comparison with lithium dilution in anesthetized dogs. Animals 13(14), 2362.

Numerous cardiac output (CO) technologies were developed to replace the ‘gold standard’ pulmonary artery thermodilution due to its invasiveness and the risks associated with it. Minimally invasive lithium dilution (LiD) shows excellent agreement with thermodilution...

Trębacz, P., Frymus, J., Barteczko, A. et al. 2023. Accuracy of instrument portal placement using a custom-made 3D-printed aiming device versus free hand technique in canine elbow arthroscopy. Animals 13(23), 3592.

While the insertion of the arthroscope into the elbow joint is relatively easy based on anatomical landmarks, obtaining a correctly located instrument portal is often difficult. Therefore, the goal of the study was to create...

Nicolis, I. N., Beale, C. N., Bidot, W. A. et al. 2022. Performance and consistency of circulating warm water blankets for rodents. JAALAS 61(1), 96-100.

General anesthesia as used for rodent research can have adverse effects on physiologic mechanisms. Thermoregulation is often greatly inhibited, with resultant deleterious effects on cardiac and respiratory function. These potential effects can be mitigated by...

Reichert, M., Koewler, N., Hargis, A. M. et al. 2022. Effects of hair removal creams on mouse skin. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 10(3) (May/June), 46-47.

Human hair removal brands such as Nair™ are sometimes used in research to remove hair from mice before surgery, imaging, and other procedures.1,3 While the use of these depilatory creams in rodent research is relatively...

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...

Bailey, K. T., Jantre, S. R., Lawrence, F. R. et al. 2022. Evaluation of active warming and surgical draping for perioperative thermal support in laboratory mice. JAALAS 61(5), 482-494.

Surgical procedures are commonly performed using mice but can have major effects on their core body temperature, including development of hypothermia. In this study, we evaluated active perioperative warming with and without surgical draping with...

O’Neil, B. A., Linklater, A. K J. 2022. Supplemental reflective blankets and wool socks help maintain body temperature in dogs undergoing celiotomy procedures: A prospective randomized controlled clinical trial. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 260(11), 1316-1323.

OBJECTIVE: To compare results for body (esophageal) temperature measurements obtained during celiotomy in normothermic (presurgical) canine patients receiving routine heat support versus routine heat support plus supplemental support (consisting of covering the thorax in a...

Zevnik, B., Jerchow, B., Buch, T. 2022. 3R measures in facilities for the production of genetically modified rodents. Lab Animal 51(6), 162-177.

Sociocultural changes in the human–animal relationship have led to increasing demands for animal welfare in biomedical research. The 3R concept is the basis for bringing this demand into practice: Replace animal experiments with alternatives where...

Nuber, M., Gonzalez-Uarquin, F., Neufurth, M. et al. 2022. Development of a 3D simulator for training the mouse in utero electroporation. PLOS ONE 17(12), e0279004.

In utero electroporation (IUE) requires high-level training in microinjection through the mouse uterine wall into the lateral ventricle of the mouse brain. Training for IUE is currently being performed in live mice as no artificial...

Reifenrath, J., Heider, M., Kempfert, M. et al. 2022. Buprenorphine in rats: Potent analgesic or trigger for fatal side effects? Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 64(1), 37.

With ongoing animal welfare efforts, multimodal analgesia is often recommended to implement in study protocols. Buprenorphine with very potent analgesic effect is a standard opioid for the use in this context in rats. In this...

Brough, D. W., Murkin, J. T., Amos, H. E. et al. 2022. Comparing variability in measurement of subcutaneous tumors in mice using 3D thermal imaging and calipers. Comparative Medicine 72(6), 364–375.

Repeatable tumor measurements are key to accurately assessing tumor growth and treatment efficacy. A preliminary study that we conducted showed that a novel 3D and thermal imaging system (3D-TI) for measuring subcutaneous tumors in rodents...

Giral, M., Armengol, C., Gavaldà, A. 2022. Physiologic effects of housing rats in metabolic cages. Comparative Medicine 72(5), 298–305.

Currently, metabolic cages (MC) are the only way to achieve serial sampling of urine and feces in rodents. However, the use of this caging creates a dramatic change from an animal’s usual microenvironment. Here we...

Koshman, Y. E., Wilsey, A. S., Bird, B. M. et al. 2021. Automated blood sampling in canine telemetry studies: Enabling enhanced assessments of cardiovascular liabilities and safety margins. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 109, 107066.

Introduction: A successful integration of automated blood sampling (ABS) into the telemetry instrumented canine cardiovascular model is presented in this study. This combined model provides an efficient means to quickly gain understanding of potential effects...

Celeste, N. A., Emmer, K. M., Bidot, W. A. et al. 2021. Effects of cling film draping material on body temperature of mice during surgery. JAALAS 60(2), 195-200.

General anesthesia induces many systemic effects, including thermoregulatory impairment and subsequent perioperative hypothermia. Due to the animals' small size, monitoring and maintaining body temperatures in laboratory rodents during anesthesia is important for successful surgical outcomes...

Rowley, N. L., Ramos-Rivera, E., Raiciulescu, S. et al. 2021. Comparison of two hair removal methods in Sprague–Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus). JAALAS 60(2), 213-220.

Rats commonly undergo surgery for research purposes. However, the effects of different methods of hair removal on wound healing and surgical site infections (SSI) in rats has not been evaluated. The current study evaluated 2...

Prior, H., Blunt, H., Crossman, L. et al. 2021. Refining procedures within regulatory toxicology studies: Improving animal welfare and data. Animals 11(11), 3057.

During the development of potential new medicines or agrochemicals, an assessment of the safety profile to humans and environmental species is conducted using a range of different in silico and in vitro techniques in conjunction...

Verjat, A., Devienne, P., Rödel, H. G. et al. 2021. More exploratory house mice judge an ambiguous situation more negatively. Animal Cognition 24(1), 53–64.

Exploration tendency, one of the most investigated animal personality traits, may be driven by either positive (when seeking interesting information) or negative (to reduce the uncertainty of the environment) affective/emotional profiles. To disentangle the valence...

Filliettaz, C., Maxwell, L., Dragon, M. et al. 2020. Novel bleeding techniques in hamsters. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(1) (January/February), 44-46.

Hamsters have historically been used in our pharmacokinetic (PK) studies using the retro-orbital (RO) bleeding technique to collect blood samples. If performed incorrectly, this technique has the potential for animal welfare complications not usually seen...