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. 
Espinoza, C., Lomax, S., Windsor, P. 2020. The effect of topical anaesthesia on the cortisol responses of calves undergoing dehorning. Animals 10(2), 312.

Dehorning causes pain and distress to cattle, and there is a need to provide effective and practical analgesia to improve animal welfare. We conducted an experiment to determine the effect of a modified post-operative topical...

Lervik, A., Toverud, S. F., Krontveit, R. et al. 2020. A comparison of respiratory function in pigs anaesthetised by propofol or alfaxalone in combination with dexmedetomidine and ketamine. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 62(1), 1-9.

Background: General anaesthesia in pigs maintained with intravenous drugs such as propofol may cause respiratory depression. Alfaxalone gives less respiratory depression than propofol in some species. The aim of the investigation was to compare respiratory...

Botman, J., Hontoir, F., Gustin, P. et al. 2020. Postanaesthetic effects of ketamine–midazolam and ketamine–medetomidine on gastrointestinal transit time in rabbits anaesthetised with isoflurane. Veterinary Record 186(8), 249.

Gastrointestinal stasis is a common perianaesthetic complication in rabbits. The objective of this study was to assess the impact on gastrointestinal transit time of ketamine–midazolam (KMZ) versus ketamine–medetomidine (later antagonised by atipamezole) (KMT-A) in rabbits...

Nøgaard, S. A., Sand, F. W., Sørensen, D. B. et al. 2020. Four- and six-hour urinary albumin excretion is a valuable alternative to 24-h urinary albumin excretion in male db/db mice. Animal Welfare 29(2), 143-149.

In mouse (Mus musculus) models of diabetic nephropathy (DN), one of the most important read-outs is the 24-h urinary albumin excretion (UAE). The 24-h urine collection is usually performed by single housing mice in metabolic...

Mallien, A. S., Häger, C., Palme, R. et al. 2020. Systematic analysis of severity in a widely used cognitive depression model for mice. Laboratory Animals 54(1), 40–49.

Animal models in psychiatric research are indispensable for insights into mechanisms of behaviour and mental disorders. Distress is an important aetiological factor in psychiatric diseases, especially depression, and is often used to mimic the human...

Weegh, N., Füner, J., Janke, O. et al. 2020. Wheel running behaviour in group-housed female mice indicates disturbed wellbeing due to DSS colitis. Laboratory Animals 54(1), 63–72.

Voluntary wheel running (VWR) behaviour is a sensitive indicator of disturbed wellbeing and used for the assessment of individual experimental severity levels in laboratory mice. However, monitoring individual VWR performance usually requires single housing, which...

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...

Alemán-Laporte, J., Bandini, L. A., Garcia-Gomes, M. S. et al. 2020. Combination of ketamine and xylazine with opioids and acepromazine in rats: Physiological changes and their analgesic effect analysed by ultrasonic vocalization. Laboratory Animals 54(2), 171–182.

In this study, the effect of four anaesthetic protocols that included the combination of xylazine (X) and ketamine (K) with acepromazine (A) and opioids (methadone (Me), morphine (Mo) or tramadol (T)) was evaluated in laboratory...

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...

Park, R. M., Foster, M., Daigle, C. L. 2020. A scoping review: The impact of housing systems and environmental features on beef cattle welfare. Animals 10(4), 565.

Housing systems and environmental features can influence beef cattle welfare. To date, little information has been synthesized on this topic. The aim of this scoping review was to examine the relationship between housing and welfare...

Ballantine, A., Rodgers, D., Watts, C. et al. 2020. The cotton rat – a new challenge. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(1), 92-95.

This poster describes how the Animal Technologists at Envigo adapted their current practices and procedures for a new species at their laboratory: the cotton rat. The paper describes cotton rat biology and behaviour; housing; environmental...

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...

Nwagwu, C. D., Defensor, E., Jiang, M. Y. et al. 2020. Endpoint in ovarian cancer xenograft model predicted by nighttime motion metrics. Lab Animal 49(8), 227–232.

Despite several therapeutics showing promise in nonclinical studies, survival from ovarian cancer remains poor. New technologies are urgently needed to optimize the translation of nonclinical studies into clinical successes. While most nonclinical settings utilize subjective...

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...

Hagemeister, K., Ernst, L., Kadaba Srinivasan, P. et al. 2020. Severity assessment in pigs after partial liver resection: Evaluation of a score sheet. Laboratory Animals 54(3), 251–260.

Severity assessment in biomedical research is required by the European authorities. Therefore, a variety of score sheets are available. The first score sheets were designed and introduced by Morton and Griffith (M&G) in 1985, to...

Nørgaard, S. A., Søndergaard, H., Sørensen, D. B. et al. 2020. Optimising streptozotocin dosing to minimise renal toxicity and impairment of stomach emptying in male 129/Sv mice. Laboratory Animals 54(4), 341–352.

The streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mouse model has been extensively used as a model for diabetes and diabetic nephropathy, but it is still influenced by many off-target toxic effects and large variation in diabetes induction. Therefore...

van Dijk, R. M., Koska, I., Bleich, A. et al. 2020. Design of composite measure schemes for comparative severity assessment in animal-based neuroscience research: A case study focussed on rat epilepsy models. PLOS ONE 15(5): e0230141.

Comparative severity assessment of animal models and experimental interventions is of utmost relevance for harm-benefit analysis during ethical evaluation, an animal welfare-based model prioritization as well as the validation of refinement measures. Unfortunately, there is...

Saller, A. M., Werner, J., Reiser, J. et al. 2020. Local anesthesia in piglets undergoing castration—A comparative study to investigate the analgesic effects of four local anesthetics on the basis of acute physiological responses and limb movements. PLOS ONE 15(7): e0236742.

Surgical castration of male piglets without analgesia is a painful procedure. This prospective, randomized and double-blinded study aimed to evaluate the analgesic effects of four different local anesthetics for piglet castration during the first week...

Hedenqvist, P., Trbakovic, A., Mellgren, T. et al. 2020. The effect of housing environment on bone healing in a critical radius defect in New Zealand white rabbits. PLOS ONE 15(5), e0233530.

In animal studies on bone healing, the effect of housing space and physical activity are seldom taken into account. Bone formation was evaluated in New Zealand White rabbits (mean ± SEM BW: 3.9 ± 0.11...

Helgers, S., Talbot, S. R., Riedesel, A. K. et al. 2020. Body weight algorithm predicts humane endpoint in an intracranial rat glioma model. Scientific Reports 10, 9020.

Humane endpoint determination is fundamental in animal experimentation. Despite commonly accepted endpoint criteria for intracranial tumour models (20% body weight loss and deteriorated clinical score) some animals still die before being euthanized in current research...

Zhang, X., Kumstel, S., Tang, G. et al. 2020. A rational approach of early humane endpoint determination in a murine model for cholestasis. ALTEX 37(2), 197-207.

Reduction of animal suffering during in vivo experiments is usually ensured by continuously monitoring the health status using a score sheet and by applying humane endpoints. However, most studies do not evaluate the plausibility of...

Tang, W., Zillmann, U., Sprengel, R. 2020. Alternative anesthesia of neonatal mice for global rAAV delivery in the brain with non-detectable behavioral interference in adults. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 14, 115.

Viral-transduced gene expression is the current standard for cell-type-specific labeling and cell tacking in experimental neuroscience. To achieve widespread gene expression, a viral delivery method to neonatal rodents was introduced more than two decades ago...

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...

Zude, B. P., Jampachaisri, K., Pacharinsak, C. 2020. Use of flavored tablets of gabapentin and carprofen to attenuate postoperative hypersensitivity in an incisional pain model in rats (Rattus norvegicus). JAALAS 59(2), 163–169.

Providing postoperative analgesia to rats by oral administration, compared with injections, reduces stress from frequent handling and is technically easier for investigators. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether bacon-flavored tablets containing gabapentin...

Thoré, E. S. J., Brendonck, L., Pinceel, T. 2020. Conspecific density and environmental complexity impact behaviour of turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri). Fish Biology 97(5), 1448–1461.

Fish models are essential for research in many biological and medical disciplines. With a typical lifespan of only 6 months, the turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) was recently established as a time- and cost-efficient model to...