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. 

Objective Mouse models are valuable in preclinical studies of inflammatory arthritis. However, current methods for measuring disease severity or responses to treatment are not optimal. In this study a smart cage system using multiple sensors...

Ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) are commonly used as cleaner fish in salmon farms as a biological treatment to mitigate sea lice infestation. Improved welfare for cleaner fish both during production of these fish and when...

Physical complexity adds physical enrichment to rearing conditions. This enrichment promotes fish welfare and reduces detrimental characteristics that fish develop in captivity. Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) is an important species for European aquaculture, where it...

Monitoring the activity of mice within their home cage is proving to be a powerful tool for revealing subtle and early-onset phenotypes in mouse models. Video-tracking, in particular, lends itself to automated machine-learning technologies that...

Shelters are stressful environments for domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Evaluating dogs’ welfare is crucial to improve their life condition and to promote a better management of shelters. We aimed at verifying which variables improved welfare...

This work compared the behavior and performance of 24 groups of 12 pigs kept in pens with either a DOUBLE [one feed space aligned with the front wall of the pen (WALL), and one immediately...

Leptin is a hormone that plays a key role in controlling food intake and energy homeostasis. Skeletal muscle is an important target for leptin and recent studies have shown that leptin deficiency may lead to...

For sows introduced into new groups, the aggressive behavior associated with establishing a social hierarchy represents a period of severe stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of providing sows with...

Animal stress is influenced by environmental factors, yet only a few studies have evaluated the effects of environmental stress on captive dogs. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of environmental and social enrichment on...

Surgical castration of piglets is generally recognized as a painful procedure, but there is currently no gold standard for the assessment of pain behavior in piglets. However, pain assessment is essential for evaluating the effectiveness...

Despite the large number of pigs involved in translational studies, no gold standard depth of anaesthesia indicators are available. We undertook a scoping review to investigate and summarize the evidence that sustains or contradicts the...

The research aimed to assess the effects of auditory environmental enrichment on sows in mixed housing (caged until 35 days after insemination and then collective pens) or collective housing (caged until 72 h after insemination...

Mixed species exhibits in zoos are used to create larger, more stimulating environments to support naturalistic interactions between species. In the wild, mixed species groups are observed as having lower rates of vigilance, presumably due...

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...

Cage-mate aggression is a well-known problem that is more prevalent in certain strains of mice and is one of the most common reasons for single housing, increased stress levels, premature death and euthanasia. Numerous methods...

Adequate pain management is essential for ethical and scientific reasons in animal experiments and should completely cover the period of expected pain without the need for frequent re-application. However, current depot formulations of Buprenorphine are...

Ornamental fishes are among the most commonly owned companion animals in the world, however, the transportation process during acquisition can result in fishes being exposed to biotic and abiotic conditions which compromise welfare. While many...

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a popular model organism in behavioral pharmacology research due to many genetic and neurological similarities with humans. As a social species, the presence (or absence) of conspecifics during housing and testing...

Intrapleural injections can be used in mice to deliver therapeutic and diagnostic agents and to model human disease processes (for example, pleural fluid accumulation, malignant pleural disease, and lung cancers). In the context of establishing...

In intensive swine production systems,, the practice of regrouping unfamiliar pigs is common, often leading to aggressive behavior. Although the effect of different musical genres composed for humans has been evaluated in pigs to mitigate...

In aquaculture, the transportation of live fish is a crucial but stress-inducing practice, necessitating a thorough understanding of its impact on fish welfare. This study aimed to assess the physiological stress response of meagre (Argyrosomus...

In clinical veterinary practice, proper training and expertise in anesthesia administration and monitoring are essential. Pigs are suitable experimental animals for many surgical techniques because they are similar in size to humans and have a...

Heart disease is a major contributor to mortality and disability on a global scale. Hence, there is a need for research to improve non-invasive diagnostic techniques. Diseases in dogs with characteristics very similar to those...

The study aimed to investigate the effects of temperature and dissolved oxygen on juvenile largemouth bass during transportation. The experiment involved four temperature groups: 20, 15, 10, and 5 °C. We analyzed the effects of...

In veterinary practice, most minor procedures such as radiographs, skin biopsies, and wound treatments require sedation. The combination of butorphanol, ketamine, and dexmedetomidine is commonly used, but the ideal dosages for this combination have not...