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. 
Joshi, S., Pillay, N. 2016. Personality predicts the responses to environmental enrichment at the group but not within-groups in stereotypic African striped mice, Rhabdomys dilectus. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 182, 44-52.

Environmental enrichment is used to enhance the well-being of captive animals and to prevent or reduce stereotypic and other abnormal behaviours. However, environmental enrichment does not always succeed in its intended purpose. We investigated whether...

Koch, L., Svendsen, S. 2016. Back to Nature! Rehabilitating Danish Research Monkeys. In: Animal Housing and Human-Animal Relations: Politics, Practices and Infrastructures. Edited by K. Bjørkdahl and T. Druglitrø. Routlege: Abingdon, Oxon. Chapter 5 p. 67-81.

This chapter traces the integration of macaques as experimental organisms for polio in Norway during the 1960s and 1970s. Investigating the integration of macaque monkeys helps to craft an understanding of how political and scientific...

MacAllister, R. P., Lester McCully, C. M., Bacher, J. et al. 2016. Minimally invasive lumbar port system for the collection of cerebrospinal fluid from rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Comparative Medicine 66(4), 349–352.

Biomedical translational research frequently incorporates collection of CSF from NHP, because CSF drug levels are used as a surrogate for CNS tissue penetration in pharmacokinetic and dynamic studies. Surgical placement of a CNS ventricular catheter...

Franchi, V., Aleuy, O. A., Tadich, T. A. 2016. Fur chewing and other abnormal repetitive behaviors in chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera), under commercial fur-farming conditions. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 11, 60-64.

Fur chewing is a behavioral disorder frequently reported in chinchillas kept for fur-farming purposes. Rodents kept in barren cages usually develop some form of abnormal repetitive behavior, which can indicate a past or present welfare...

Winnicker, C., Gaskill, B., Garner, J. P. et al. 2016. A Guide to the Behavior & Enrichment of Laboratory Rodents. Charles River Laboratories.

Covering species-typical behavior as well as abnormal/malfunctional behavior and stereotypes observed in mice, rats, hamsters and gerbils, this is an excellent resource for those looking to implement or enhance an existing behavioral husbandry and enrichment...

Leeds, A., Elsner, R., Lukas, K. 2016. The effect of positive reinforcement training on an adult female western lowland gorilla’s (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) rate of abnormal and aggressive behavior. Animal Behavior and Cognition 3(2), 78–87.

Positive reinforcement training (PRT) has become a widely used tool in improving the ease with which husbandry and veterinary procedures are performed for animals under human care. PRT provides positive social interaction, cognitive stimulation, and...

Gottlieb D. H., Maier, A., Coleman, K. 2015. Evaluation of environmental and intrinsic factors that contribute to stereotypic behavior in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 171,184-91.

Full body repetitive behaviors, known as motor stereotypic behaviors (MSBs), are one of the most commonly seen abnormal behaviors in captive non-human primates, and are frequently used as a behavioral measure of well-being. The main...

Wickremsinhe, E. R., Perkins, E. J. 2015. Using dried blood spot sampling to improve data quality and reduce animal use in mouse pharmacokinetic studies. JAALAS. 54(2), 139-144.

Traditional pharmacokinetic analysis in nonclinical studies is based on the concentration of a test compound in plasma and requires approximately 100 to 200 μL blood collected per time point. However, the total blood volume of...

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...

Bloomsmith, M., Kim, N., Franklin, A. et al. 2015. Positive reinforcement methods to train chimpanzees to cooperate with urine collection. JAALAS 54, 66-69.

Positive reinforcement training can be used in many ways to enhance the welfare of captive primates. Training for biologic sample collection is one application of positive reinforcement training. In this study, 35 adult female chimpanzees...

Pearson, B. L., Reeder, D. M., Judge, P. G. 2015. Crowding increases salivary cortisol but not self-directed behavior in captive baboons. American Journal of Primatology 77, 462-67.

Reduced space can lead to crowding in social animals. Crowding increases the risk of agonistic interactions that, in turn, may require additional physiological defensive coping mechanisms affecting health. To determine the stress induced from increased...

Harper, L., Choleris, E., Ervin, K. et al. 2015. Stereotypic mice are aggressed by their cage-mates and tend to be poor demonstrators in social learning tasks. Animal Welfare. 24(4), 463-473.

Stereotypic behaviours (SBs) are linked with behavioural inflexibility and resemble symptoms of autism, suggesting that stereotypic animals could have autistic-like social impairments. SBs are also common in caged mice. We therefore hypothesised relationships between stereotypic...

Bayne, K. A., Beaver, B. V., Mench, J. A. et al. 2015. Laboratory animal behavior. In: Laboratory Animal Medicine, 3rd edition. Fox, J. G., Anderson, L., Otto, G., et al. (eds). Elsevier, Inc., Amsterdam, NL. pp. 1617-1651.

The study of laboratory animal behavior has increased steadily over the last decade, with expanding emphasis on a variety of commonly used species. In the United States, this trend was initially focused on species for...

Schillaci, T. T., Bishop, B. 2014. Effects of needle gauge on blood quality and potential for bruising with repeated blood collections in cynomolgus macaques. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 609-610. (Abstract #P226).

Obtaining quality blood samples while minimizing animal trauma related to venipuncture continues to be an important area of focus within the laboratory animal environment as it relates to both animal welfare and sample integrity. A...

Allaire. A. C., Boule, S. 2014. Refining blood collection techniques to improve animal welfare and sample quality. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 605-606. (Abstract #P212).

An effort to refine rodent blood collection techniques resulted in an examination of alternative methodologies to improve animal welfare and sample quality. Disease model or repeated sample collection resulted in inadequate sample volume, occasional hemolysis...

Bratcher, N. A., Ebert, P. A., Buck, W. et al. 2014. Refinement and efficiency through serial microsampling: Cost:benefit analysis. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 580. (Abstract #P121).

Advances in bioanalytic methods allow for accurate plasma drug level measurement in small sample volumes. Decreased sample volumes enable serial blood sample collection from one rodent, rather than terminal or sparse sampling from multiple rodents...

Tupper, T., Manning, H., Turner, D. et al. 2014. An innovative restraint device for the placement of intravenous tail vein catheters in anesthetized mice. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 584. (Abstract #P136).

Consistently accurate intravenous tail vein administration of radiopharmaceuticals in anesthetized mice is a critical component of successful PET/CT imaging in the preclinical setting. Injectable anesthetics are often not suitable for PET imaging and commercially available...

Torres, M. 2014. Refining methods for mouse hepatic biopsy. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 557-558 (Abstract #P32).

The mouse is a commonly used species in liver research such as oncology, toxicology, and disease models. The ability to collect specimens of liver is vital to such research. Such studies require either a major...

Reamer, L. A., Haller, R. H., Thiele, E. J. et al. 2014. Factors affecting initial training success of blood glucose testing in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Zoo Biology 33(3), 212-220.

Type 2 diabetes can be a problem for captive chimpanzees. Accurate blood glucose (BG) readings are necessary to monitor and treat this disease. Thus, obtaining voluntary samples from primates through positive reinforcement training (PRT) is...

Novak, M., Hamel, A., Coleman, K. et al. 2014. Hair loss and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis activity in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). JAALAS 53(3), 261-266.

Hair loss is a common problem in captive macaque colonies. A potential factor is the possible influence of stressful environments in the development of hair loss. We examined the relationship between hair loss and chronic...

Meade, T. M., Hutchinson, E., Krall, C. et al. 2014. Use of an aquarium as a novel enrichment item for singly housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). JAALAS 53(5), 472-477.

Locomotor stereotypies are behaviors often seen in singly housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and are considered to represent a maladaptive response to captive environments. Active and passive enrichment items are commonly used to mitigate these...

Lutz, C. K., Williams, P. C., Sharp, R. M. 2014. Abnormal behavior and associated risk factors in captive baboons (Papio hamadryas spp.). American Journal of Primatology 76(4), 355-361.

Abnormal behavior, ranging from motor stereotypies to self‐injurious behavior, has been documented in captive nonhuman primates, with risk factors including nursery rearing, single housing, and veterinary procedures. Much of this research has focused on macaque...

Kranendonk, G., Schippers, E. P. 2014. A pilot study on the effects of a change in behavioural management on the behaviour of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 160, 127-137.

The debate on the use of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in biomedical research has been ongoing for several years now. In 2012, the decision was made to retire a large number of laboratory chimpanzees in the...

Kroeker, R., Bellanca, R. U., Lee, G. H. et al. 2014. Alopecia in three macaque species housed in a laboratory environment. American Journal of Primatology 76(4), 325-334.

Alopecia is a persistent problem in captive macaque populations and despite recent interest, no factors have been identified that can unequivocally explain the presence of alopecia in a majority of cases. Seasonal, demographic, and environmental...

Gottlieb, D. H., O'Connor, J. R., Coleman, K. 2014. Using porches to decrease feces painting in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). JAALAS 53(6), 653-656.

The goal of this project was to evaluate the efficacy of a porch in decreasing feces painting in captive rhesus macaques. The porch is a small extension that is hung on the outside of a...