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. 
Ernst, L., Kopaczka, M., Schulz, M. et al. 2020. Semi-automated generation of pictures for the Mouse Grimace Scale: A multi-laboratory analysis (Part 2). Laboratory Animals 54(1), 92–98.

The Mouse Grimace Scale (MGS) is an established method for estimating pain in mice during animal studies. Recently, an improved and standardized MGS set-up and an algorithm for automated and blinded output of images for...

Chartier, L. C., Hebart, M. L., Howarth, G. S. et al. 2020. Affective state determination in a mouse model of colitis-associated colorectal cancer. PLOS ONE 15(1), e0228413.

Behavioural indicators of affective state, including burrowing, clinical scores and the Mouse Grimace Score have not yet been validated in mouse models of chronic gastrointestinal disease. Additionally, a comparison of these methods has not been...

Andresen, N., Wöllhaf, M., Hohlbaum, K. et al. 2020. Towards a fully automated surveillance of well-being status in laboratory mice using deep learning: Starting with facial expression analysis. PLOS ONE 15(4), e0228059.

Assessing the well-being of an animal is hindered by the limitations of efficient communication between humans and animals. Instead of direct communication, a variety of parameters are employed to evaluate the well-being of an animal...

Talbot, S. R., Biernot, S., Bleich, A. et al. 2020. Defining body-weight reduction as a humane endpoint: A critical appraisal. Laboratory Animals 54(1), 99–110.

In many animal experiments scientists and local authorities define a body-weight reduction of 20% or more as severe suffering and thereby as a potential parameter for humane endpoint decisions. In this study, we evaluated distinct...

Ertl, N., Wendler, P., Sós, E. et al. 2020. Theory of medical scoring systems and a practical method to evaluate Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) foot health in European zoos. Animal Welfare 29(2), 163-176.

Several established models in human and veterinary medicine exist to evaluate an individual health or disease status. Many of these seem unsuitable for further epidemiological research aimed at discovering underlying influential factors. As a case...

Veasey, J. 2020. Assessing the psychological priorities for optimising captive Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) welfare. Animals 10(1), 39.

The welfare status of elephants under human care has been a contentious issue for two decades or more in numerous western countries. Much effort has gone into assessing the welfare of captive elephants at individual...

Plangsangmas, T., Brown, J., Thitaram, C. et al. 2020. Circadian rhythm of salivary immunoglobulin A and associations with cortisol as a stress biomarker in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Animals 10(1), 157.

Salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA) has been proposed as a potential indicator of welfare for various species, including Asian elephants, and may be related to adrenal cortisol responses. This study aimed to distinguish circadian rhythm effects...

Webb, J., Crawley, J., Seltmann, M. et al. 2020. Evaluating the reliability of non-specialist observers in the behavioural assessment of semi-captive Asian elephant welfare. Animals 10(1), 167.

Recognising stress is an important component in maintaining the welfare of captive animal populations, and behavioural observation provides a rapid and non-invasive method to do this. Despite substantial testing in zoo elephants, there has been...

Webber, C., Lee, P. 2020. Play in elephants: Wellbeing, welfare or distraction? Animals 10(2), 305.

We explore elephant play behaviour since (a) play has been proposed to represent a potential welfare indicator; and (b) play has been associated with long-term survival in the wild. We categorised play into four types...

Schiffmann, C., Clauss, M., Hoby, S. et al. 2020. Weigh and see—Body mass recordings versus body condition scoring in European zoo elephants (Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus). Zoo Biology 39(2), 97-108.

Regular body mass (BM) monitoring plays a key role in preventative health care of zoo animals. In some species, including African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), the process of weighing can be challenging...

Turner, P. V., Pang, D. S., Lofgren, J. L. 2019. A review of pain assessment methods in laboratory rodents. Comparative Medicine 69(6), 451–467.

Ensuring that laboratory rodent pain is well managed underpins the ethical acceptability of working with these animals in research. Appropriate treatment of pain in laboratory rodents requires accurate assessments of the presence or absence of...

Smith J. C. 2019. A review of strain and sex differences in response to pain and analgesia in mice. Comparative Medicine 69(6), 490–500.

Pain and its alleviation are currently a highly studied issue in human health. Research on pain and response to analgesia has evolved to include the effects of genetics, heritability, and sex as important components in...

Gjendal, K., Ottesen, J. L., Olsson, I. et al. 2020. Effect of repeated exposure to isoflurane on nest building and burrowing in mice. JAALAS 59(1), 30–36.

Nest building and burrowing are highly motivated natural behaviors in rodents, and changes in these behaviors can serve as welfare assessment tools. In this study, we investigated: 1) the limits of agreement between 2 observers...

Gallo, M. S., Karas, A. Z., Pritchett-Corning, K. et al. 2020. Tell-tale TINT: Does the time to incorporate into nest test evaluate postsurgical pain or welfare in mice? JAALAS 59(1), 37–45.

Identifying early indicators of distress in mice is difficult using either periodic monitoring or current technology. Likewise, poor pain identification remains a barrier to providing appropriate pain relief in many mouse models. The Time to...

Wilkinson, M. J. A., Selman, C., McLaughlin, L. et al. 2020. Progressing the care, husbandry and management of ageing mice used in scientific studies. Laboratory Animals 54(3) 225–238.

Driven by the longer lifespans of humans, particularly in Westernised societies, and the need to know more about ‘healthy ageing’, ageing mice are being used increasingly in scientific research. Many departments and institutes involved with...

Hambrecht, S., Oerke, A.‐K., Heistermann, M. et al. 2020. Diurnal variation of salivary cortisol in captive African elephants (Loxodonta africana) under routine management conditions and in relation to a translocation event. Zoo Biology 39(3), 186–196.

The present study assessed the diurnal variation in salivary cortisol in captive African elephants during routine management (baseline) and in relation to a potential stressor (translocation) to evaluate to what extent acute stress may affect...

Turcsán, B., Tátrai, K., Petró, E. et al. 2020. Comparison of behavior and genetic structure in populations of family and kenneled beagles. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 183.

In dogs, the social and spatial restriction associated with living in a kennel environment could lead to chronic stress and the development of abnormal behaviors (“kennel-dog syndrome”). However, little is known about how kenneled dogs...

Reinhardt, V. (ed.) 2020. It’s Okay to Cry - Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum [LAREF], Volume V. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

This is the 5th volume of selected discussions that took place on the electronic Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum between February 2016 and December 2019. The forum was created in October 2002; it allows...

Stevens, C., Finnegan, E., Clarkson, J. et al. 2020. Report of the 2019 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(2), 101-111.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 26 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues, and share experiences of...

Singleton, S., Nefla, M., Dennison, N. et al. 2020. Assessing pain in models of rheumatoid arthritis. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(2), 149-152.

A hallmark symptom of rheumatoid arthritis in humans is painful swollen joints. Pain can manifest before any inflammation is noticeable as well as persist long after inflammation has resolved. In rodent models of arthritis, ankle...

Jones, H., King, R. 2020. Refinements to health monitoring. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(2), 153-154.

This poster offers two visual health monitoring scoring sheets for mice. The first consists of a red-amber-green coding system to determine the frequency of daily health checks and when a humane endpoint is reached. The...

Smith, B. J., Bruner, K., Hess, A. M. et al. 2020. Female urine-induced ultrasonic vocalizations in male C57BL/6J mice as a proxy indicator for postoperative pain. JAALAS 59(2), 204–211.

Objectively recognizing postoperative pain in mice is challenging, making it difficult to determine an appropriate postoperative analgesic regimen. Adult male mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations after exposure to adult female urine (FiUSV). To determine if FiUSV...

Rix, A., Drude, N., Mrugalla, A. et al. 2020. Performance of severity parameters to detect chemotherapy-induced pain and distress in mice. Laboratory Animals 54(5), 452-460.

According to European Union directive 2010/63/EU a severity classification of experimental procedures performed on laboratory animals is mandatory. This includes a prospective evaluation of all interventions performed within the experiment, as well as an assessment...

Larson, M. A. 2020. Alternatives to shipping live mice. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(5) (September/October), 52-54.

Many in the lab animal field are familiar with shipping animals from vendor to investigator, from investigator to vendor, and from investigator to investigator. Sharing mouse models represents being good stewards of our animal resources...

Chapa, J. M., Maschat, K., Iwersen, M. et al. 2020. Accelerometer systems as tools for health and welfare assessment in cattle and pigs – A review. Behavioural Processes 181, 104262.

Welfare assessment has traditionally been performed by direct observation by humans, providing information at only selected points in time. Recently, this assessment method has been questioned, as ‘Precision Livestock Farming’ technologies may be able to...