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. 

Since there is evidence that the bottom cages can impact research, this should be a good reason to eliminate the two-tier system with its species-inappropriate bottom-tier cages.

The ideal animal model would contribute no confounding variables in experimental science. Variables affect experimental design resulting in increased animal use or repeated studies. We demonstrated a simple refinement which may reduce the number of...

Little information is available on the response of vervet monkeys to different housing conditions or on the suitability of enrichment devices or methods for vervet monkeys. In this study, the authors evaluated the occurrence of...

Offering enrichment to stimulate chewing behavior in rats has been found to promote psychologic and physiologic wellbeing. While there are many commercially produced nylon products available for use as chewable enrichment, these items are costly...

Understanding the preferred nesting location of laboratory mice within the cage may serve as a useful, objective, behavioral assessment tool. To determine if caging ventilation rates influenced nesting location, we observed nesting site (front, middle...

Environmental enrichment, besides having a great impact on animal welfare, can also be a potential variable in experimental research. Thus, we investigated whether enrichment of cages with paper tissues or plastic tunnels affects scientific outcome...

The tubes provide shelter and nesting material to the rats, allowing them to exhibit species-specific behaviors. The change in the animals' behavior has been overwhelming. The rats are much less aggressive; in one year, fight...

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of environmental enrichment on the performance of C57BL/6 mice kept in conventional animal facilities (open cage; OC) and individually ventilated caging system (IVC). We analyzed...

Improving the home cages of laboratory mice by environmental enrichment has been widely used to reduce cage stereotypies and anxiety-related behaviour in behavioural tests. However, enrichment studies differ substantially in type, complexity and variation of...

Some experimental procedures are associated with placement of animals in wire-bottom cages. The goal of this study was to evaluate stress-related physiological parameters (heart rate [HR], body temperature [BT], locomotor activity [LA], body weight [BW]...

Following a two-week introduction period, pairs of rats were put inside an arena. One was trapped inside a central restrainer, while the other roamed free in the larger space. By day six or seven, on...

In laboratories, mice are housed at ambient temperatures between 20 to 24 °C, which is below their lower critical temperature of 30 °C, but comfortable for human workers. Thus, mice are thermally stressed, which can...

Mice are housed at temperatures which increase their basal metabolic rates and impose high energy demands to maintain core temperatures. Thus, energy may be reallocated from other biologic processes to increase heat production. We hypothesized...

People's affective or emotional state can alter their cognitive processing, biasing interpretation of ambiguous stimuli. Those in a more positive state interpret such stimuli in a more optimistic manner than those in a negative state...

Nesting material has been reported to be beneficial to mice by providing environmental enrichment as well as a means of thermoregulation. Cotton nesting material has been reported to cause conjunctivitis in athymic nude mice. We...

In laboratories mice are typically housed at ambient temperatures (Ta) of 20–24 °C, which are below their average preferred Ta of ≈30 °C. Adjusting laboratory Ta is not a solution because preferences differ depending on...

Enrichment studies with rodents have demonstrated that cage enhancements can improve animal welfare and performance on common behavioral measures, but few studies have compared more than one type of enrichment or controlled for confounds, and...

This report describes what rabbits need in terms of social housing, enclosure size and type, and environmental enrichment. It also describes potential husbandry-related welfare problems and how to resolve them.

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of specific regimens of enrichment on the behaviour of C57BL/6J mice in the elevated plus-maze test (EPM). A total of 192 male C57BL/6J mice were...

In order to prevent physical and psychological deterioration in older animals, it is important to apply the same principles of environmental enrichment and housing as are applied to younger animals. As we have discussed above...

As a global company, our institution made the decision to install European Union (EU) Appendix A-compliant nonhuman primate cages at one of its facilities. This investment represented a substantial evolution of standards commonly employed within...

The ability to provide permanent group-housed caging for nonhuman primates involved in toxicology research is quickly becoming an important step in improving the overall quality of life for these animals. This type of caging offers...

The Guide for the Care and Use of Animals and the USDA Animal Welfare Regulations (AWR) outline minimum space requirements for laboratory animals, including rabbits. These documents encourage housing of animals in enclosures that allow...

Our goal was to evaluate the effect of treatment represented by enrichment with cotton balls, and the housing system, by comparing the conventional (open cage) and the ventilated cage (IVC) systems on the weight gain...

Standard rabbit caging offers little in the way of exercise, vertical space for species-typical movements (that is, standing on hind limbs), or ample space for proper social introductions. One commonly used rabbit breed, the New...