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. 
Maigrot, A., Hillmann, E., Briefer, E. 2018. Encoding of emotional valence in wild boar (Sus scrofa) calls. Animals 8(6), 85.

Measuring emotions in nonhuman mammals is challenging. As animals are not able to verbally report how they feel, we need to find reliable indicators to assess their emotional state. Emotions can be described using two...

Allen, P. J., Baumgartner, W., Brinkman, E. et al. 2018. Fin healing and regeneration in sturgeon. Journal of Fish Biology 93(5), 917-930.

Pectoral fin healing in fin spines and rays were examined in juvenile Atlantic sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus following three different sampling techniques (n = 8-9 fish per treatment): entire leading fin spine removed, a 1-2...

Bulens, A., Van Beirendonck, S., Van Thielen, J. et al. 2018. Rearing finishing pigs with intact tails: Do they benefit from an enriched environment? Journal of Veterinary Behavior 24, 1-8.

In an attempt to prevent tail biting in pigs, tail docking is often done. This management procedure is painful for the pigs, so the question arises whether pigs can be raised with intact tails and...

White, E., Fernandez, J., Wilson, J. M. 2018. Mini-pig urine collection within a laboratory environment. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 6(1) (March), 36-39.

Urinalysis is a commonly used method of evaluating urinary tract or kidney function and to screen for progression of experimentally induced models of infection, urinary tract disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension, among others. The ideal...

Ekesbo, I., Gunnarsson, S. 2018. Farm Animal Behaviour: Characteristics for Assessment and Welfare (2nd ed). CABI, Wallingford, UK.

Completely updated and revised, and with a new author team, this second edition of Farm Animal Behaviour continues to provide essential information on normal and stereotypic behaviors in a wide variety of farm animals to...

Rodrigues, M. V., de Castro, S. O., de Albuquerque, C. Z. 2017. The gingival vein as a minimally traumatic site for multiple blood sampling in guinea pigs and hamsters. PLOS ONE 12(5), e0177967.

Laboratory animals are still necessary in scientific investigation and vaccine testing, but while novel methodological approaches are not available for their replacement, the search for new, humane, easy, and painless methods is necessary to diminish...

Pluschke, A. M., Simmons, G. S., Keates, H. L. et al. 2017. An updated method for the jugular catheterization of grower pigs for repeated blood sampling following an oral glucose tolerance test. Laboratory Animals 51(4), 397-404.

Jugular catheterization is a common procedure used under experimental conditions. However, there is considerable variation in the reported techniques, particularly for grower pigs (>40 kg and 10 mL) are required. This paper provides a complete...

Miranda, A., Pego, J. M., Correia-Pinto, J. 2017. Animal facility videoendoscopic intubation station: Tips and tricks from mice to rabbits. Laboratory Animals 51(2), 204-207.

Endotracheal intubation of laboratory animals is a common procedure shared by several research fields for different purposes, such as mechanical ventilation of anaesthetized animals, instillation of cytotoxic nanoparticles, infectious agents or tumour cells for induction...

Lehmann, H., Blache, D., Drynan, E. et al. 2017. Optimum drug combinations for the sedation of growing boars prior to castration. Animals 7(8), 61.

Juvenile male pigs were sedated for castration. Eight five-month old boars were sedated twice (two weeks apart) with a combination of detomidine (0.1 mg/kg), midazolam (0.2 mg/kg) and either butorphanol (0.2 mg/kg) (Group MDB, n...

Vermeer, H., Dirx-Kuijken, N., Bracke, M. 2017. Exploration feeding and higher space allocation improve welfare of growing-finishing pigs. Animals 7(5), 36.

Lack of environmental enrichment and high stocking densities in growing-finishing pigs can lead to adverse social behaviors directed to pen mates, resulting in skin lesions, lameness, and tail biting. The objective of the study was...

Leliveld, L. M. C., Düpjan, S., Tuchscherer, A. et al. 2017. Vocal correlates of emotional reactivity within and across contexts in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa). Physiology & Behavior 181, 117-126.

Vocalizations have long been recognized to encode information about an individual's emotional state and, as such, have contributed to the study of emotions in animals. However, the potential of vocalizations to also encode information about...

Hawkins, P., McNeilly, A., Watson, J. et al. 2017. Report of the 2016 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(2), 77-86.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Welfare Group held a one-day meeting on 1 November 2016 at the University of Edinburgh and was attended by 70 delegates. Presentation topics included refinements in blood sampling rodents...

Davis, K., Seddon, Y., Creutzinger, K. et al. 2017. An investigation into the use of sucrose to reduce castration pain in piglets. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 97(3), 439-447.

Oral sucrose was evaluated for its ability to reduce pain following castration. Piglets (n = 126) were assigned to one of the five treatments: (1) castrated and given 3 mL of water (C); (2) castrated...

Huber, A., Barber, A. L. A., Faragó, T. et al. 2017. Investigating emotional contagion in dogs (Canis familiaris) to emotional sounds of humans and conspecifics. Animal Cognition 20(4), 703–715.

Emotional contagion, a basic component of empathy defined as emotional state-matching between individuals, has previously been shown in dogs even upon solely hearing negative emotional sounds of humans or conspecifics. The current investigation further sheds...

McEntee, D., Borg, K., Markiewicz, V. 2016. Establishment of a home-cage in vivo method of New Zealand white rabbit urine collection. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 4(4) (December), 44-46.

The most common methods for rabbit urine collection are newborn stroking, cystocentesis, and transfer to a metabolism cage.2 None of these options allow for a significant, quality amount of urine to be collected in vivo...

Tokumaru, R. S., Ades, C., Monticelli, P. F. 2015. Social support does not require attachment: Any conspecific tranquilizes isolated guinea-pig pups. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 171, 197-203.

Guinea pig pups produce typical distress whistles when isolated. Whistles’ frequency is decreased or abolished when they contact with the mother and, to a lesser degree, a sibling or even an unfamiliar female, is regained...

Caron, A., Lelong, C., Pascual, M. H. et al. 2015. Miniaturized blood sampling techniques to benefit reduction in mice and refinement in nonhuman primates: Application to bioanalysis in toxicity studies with antibody-drug conjugates. JAALAS 54(2), 145-152.

Minimizing the number of animals in regulatory toxicity studies while achieving study objectives to support the development of future medicines contributes to good scientific and ethical practices. Recent advances in technology have enabled the development...

Petak, I. 2013. Communication patterns within a group of shelter dogs and implications for their welfare. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 16(2), 118-139.

Keeping shelter dogs in groups provides them with a more socially and physically enriched environment, but eventually it may cause them stress. Understanding dogs' communication could help shelter staff recognize and prevent undesirable communicative patterns...

Savastano, G. M. 2013. Operant conditioning with laboratory beagles. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 619 (Abstract #PS57).

There is increased regulatory emphasis on positive reinforcement training for husbandry, research procedures, and restraint devices. We practice acclimation, association, and positive reinforcement training with our beagle colony with goals to reduce stress for dogs...

Nelson, E. A., Keller, G. L., Mitchell, T. W. et al. 2010. A jugular bleeding technique in rabbits. Lab Animal 39(1), 17-22.

When studying pharmacokinetics in rabbits, researchers must often take multiple blood samples from conscious rabbits. Researchers usually collect these samples via the auricular vein, typically through a port or an indwelling catheter. The authors have...

Brodersen, T., Glerup, P., Mølgaard, S. et al. 2010. The use of positive reinforcement with Göttinger minipigs. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 721-722 (Abstract #P128).

Experimental procedures, such as dosing, weighing, and physical exams are usual parameters included in nonclinical safety and efficacy studies using laboratory animals. Many of these procedures are often associated with discomfort for the animals and...

Ellegaard, L., Cunningham, A., Edwards, S. et al. 2010. Welfare of the minipig with special reference to use in regulatory toxicology studies. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 62(3), 167-183.

This paper reviews the animal welfare challenges associated with the use of minipigs in toxicology testing, and compares these to published knowledge on the other widely used non-rodent species (dogs and non-human primates). Welfare challenges...

Luzzi, M., Skoumbourdis, E., Baumans, V. et al. 2005. Collecting blood from rodents: A discussion by the Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology and Welfare 4, 99-102.

The question was asked: "In your own experience, what is the least disturbing technique - from the subject's point of view! - of blood collection for rodents?" In summary, it is fair to conclude the...

Mikkelsen, L. F., Bentsen, H., Gerlach, B. 2003. The restraint platform - refinement of long term restraining of dogs for experimental procedures. Scandinavian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science 30(4), 217-219.

This short communication describes a new method for the long term restraining of dogs for experimental procedures like multiple blood sampling. The newly developed platform offers the dog a choice either to lie down, sit...

Reinhardt, V., Reinhardt, A. 2000. Blood collection procedure of laboratory primates: A neglected variable in biomedical research. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 3(4), 321-333.

A survey of 75 biomedical articles dealing with stress-dependent blood parameters in caged primates revealed that the conditions under which blood collection occurred were in most cases [72%] described either not at all or so...