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. 

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...

Depression and anxiety are some of the most prevalent and debilitating mental health conditions in humans. They can present on their own or as co-morbidities with other disorders. Like humans, non-human primates (NHPs) can develop...

Animal welfare is a key issue not only for aquaculture industry and food production, but also for daily husbandry practices in research topics related to physiology in wild and farmed animals. In this context, teleost...

The monitoring and assessment of animals is important for their health and welfare. The appropriate selection of multiple, validated, and feasible welfare assessment indicators is required to effectively identify compromises or improvements to animal welfare...

We aimed to develop and validate the Unesp-Botucatu goat acute pain scale (UGAPS). Thirty goats (5 negative controls and 25 submitted to orchiectomy) were filmed for 7 min at the time points 24 h before...

Gilthead sea bream is a highly cultured marine fish throughout the Mediterranean area, but new and strict criteria of welfare are needed to assure that the intensification of production has no negative effects on animal...

Locomotion in non-human primates, including walking, climbing, and brachiating among other types of movement (but not pacing), is a species-typical behavior that varies with age, social housing conditions, and environmental factors (e.g., season, food availability...

Gradually, concern for the welfare of aquatic invertebrates produced on a commercial/industrial scale is crossing the boundaries of science and becoming a demand of other societal actors. The objective of this paper is to propose...

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...

Animal welfare researchers are committed to developing novel approaches to enhance the quality of life of chimpanzees living in professional care. To systematically monitor physical, mental, and emotional states, welfare scientists highlight the importance of...

Although biomarkers are often used for predicting morbidity and mortality in humans, similar data are lacking in our closest relatives. This study analyzed 16 biomarkers in zoo-housed chimpanzees and bonobos from serum samples collected during...

Accredited zoos and aquariums are required to have a welfare assessment process in place for the animals in their care. However, welfare assessment theoretical frameworks and methodologies vary widely. Previous studies have shown that taxonomic...

Welfare assessment currently is less well-characterized for aquatic animals and the classical methodologies used for terrestrial animals are not adequate to improve our knowledge about fish well-being. Among different approaches, the status of organism responses...

Environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques have emerged as a cost-effective and non-invasive strategy for monitoring the distribution of endangered aquatic species. Despite their numerous advantages, operational uncertainty at each step of the process represents a significant...

Some animal species exhibit considerable physiological and behavioural alterations in response to captivity. It has been hypothesized, but rarely tested, that such changes reflect a negative affective state that is associated to this specific context...

Welfare metrics have been established for octopuses in the laboratory, but not for octopuses living in the wild. Wild octopuses are constantly exposed to potentially harmful situations, and the ability to assess the welfare status...

This study aimed to expand knowledge on lumpfish stress physiology by investigating the effects of acute stress on primary (i.e., cortisol) and secondary (e.g., metabolites) stress responses, as well as oxidative stress biomarkers, from stress...

Welfare assessment currently is less well-characterized for aquatic animals and the classical methodologies used for terrestrial animals are not adequate to improve our knowledge about fish well-being. Among different approaches, the status of organism responses...

The welfare of invertebrates under human care is of growing concern, particularly with the increasing interest in insect farming as an environmentally sustainable means of producing food. Additionally, individual welfare monitoring systems can be time-consuming...

Chimp Haven is a sanctuary for chimpanzees retired from biomedical research, rescued from the pet trade, or re-homed after other organizations could no longer care for them. To provide optimal care for over 300 chimpanzees...

Lateralised behavioural responses to environmental stressors have become more frequently used as indicators of social welfare in animals. These lateralised behavioural responses are under the control of asymmetrical brain functions as part of the primary...

The article presents and discusses the issues of the use of free-living invertebrates to assess the ecological status of freshwater environments with different methods of biological monitoring. Invertebrates are excluded from ethical consideration in the...

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...

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...