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. 
Kitchenham, L., MacLellan, A., Paletta, P. et al. 2024. Do housing-induced changes in brain activity cause stereotypic behaviours in laboratory mice? Behavioural Brain Research 462, 114862.

Abnormal repetitive stereotypic behaviours (SBs) (e.g. pacing, body-rocking) are common in animals with poor welfare (e.g. socially isolated/in barren housing). But how (or even whether) poor housing alters animals’ brains to induce SBs remains uncertain...

Ausderau, K. K., Colman, R. J., Kabakov, S. et al. 2023. Evaluating depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in non-human primates. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16, 1006065.

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...

Deng, J., Zhang, H., Wang, Q. et al. 2023. An optimized environmental DNA method to improve detectability of the endangered Sichuan taimen (Hucho bleekeri). Fishes 8(7), 339.

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...

Esparza, K. 2023, August. Moving away from soiled bedding sentinels—The (R)evolution in rodent health screening. Animal Technology and Welfare 22(2), 158–160.

Traditional health monitoring methods consisted of Soiled Bedding Sentinels (SBS (i.e. animals exposed to dirty bedding from colony animals)), which require the euthanasia of SBS. Numerous studies have demonstrated that SBS may not accurately represent...

Marin, N., Moragon, A., Gil, D. et al. 2023. Acclimation and blood sampling: Effects on stress markers in C57Bl/6J mice. Animals 13(18), 2816.

Blood sampling in rodents is common practice in scientific studies. Some of the refined methods widely used are the puncture of the saphenous vein or tail vein, or even tail docking. The handling needs of...

Brown, A. 2023. Aced it! Performing large volume survival bleeds in rabbits. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 11(3) (May/June), 44-46.

New Zealand White rabbits are commonly used for polyclonal antibody production, which can require collecting no more than 10% of total body weight every two weeks (approximately 20 ml of blood for a 4 kg...

George, A. J., O’Malley, C. I., Bulock, R. E. et al. 2023. Implementation of an alternative training method for cardiac blood collection in mice. JAALAS 62(6), 487–493.

Training personnel to work with animals presents a variety of challenges, both logistically and with regard to animal welfare. These issues make training an ideal opportunity to evaluate practices and to implement the 3R principles...

George, A. J., Harmsen, B. J., Ford, J. A. et al. 2023. Evaluation of submental blood collection in mice (Mus musculus). JAALAS 62(1), 92–98.

The submental route is an option for nonterminal and serial blood collection in mice. This study compared the submental route to the maxillary route (also referred to as the submandibular route). The study used male...

Boardman, R. M., Pinder, A. C., Piper,A. T. et al. 2022. Non-lethal sampling for the stable isotope analysis of the critically endangered European eel Anguilla anguilla: How fin and mucus compare to dorsal muscle. Journal of Fish Biology 100(3), 847-851.

Ecological studies on the critically endangered European eel Anguilla anguilla often incorporate stable isotope analysis that typically uses dorsal muscle sampled from euthanised eels. To minimise the lethal sampling of imperilled populations, fin tissue and/or...

Lutz, C. K., Coleman, K., Hopper, L.M. et al. 2022. Nonhuman primate abnormal behavior: Etiology, assessment, and treatment. American Journal of Primatology 84(6), e23380.

Across captive settings, nonhuman primates may develop an array of abnormal behaviors including stereotypic and self-injurious behavior. Abnormal behavior can indicate a state of poor welfare, since it is often associated with a suboptimal environment...

Ahrens Kress, A. P., Zhang, Y., Kaiser-Vry, A. R. et al. 2022. A Comparison of blood collection techniques in mice and their effects on welfare. JAALAS 61(3), 287-295.

Multiple methods are used to collect blood from mice; these methods have different effects on animal welfare. This study compared blood collection from facial, chin, and saphenous locations with regard to various parameters, including the...

Bissmire, H. 2022. Green clay: Not just for a pretty face. Animal Technology and Welfare 21(3), 242–243.

Mice can be prone to skin lesions for various reasons. Green clay is a non-invvasive method to treat such skin lesions, and does not require veterinary approval or have properties that may interfere with an...

Kulyar, M. F.-A., Ashfaq, K., Aqib, A. I. et al. 2022. Enhanced healing activity of manuka honey and nitrofurazone composite in full-thickness burn wounds in the rabbit model. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 875629.

Burns cause many significant changes in metabolism and inflammatory reactions, leading to poor regeneration in animals and humans. A list of medicines to treat burns is available in the market. But due to the high...

Mason, G. J., Lavery, J. M. 2022. What is it like to be a bass? Red herrings, fish pain and the study of animal sentience. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 788289.

Debates around fishes’ ability to feel pain concern sentience: do reactions to tissue damage indicate evaluative consciousness (conscious affect), or mere nociception? Thanks to Braithwaite’s research leadership, and concerns that current practices could compromise welfare...

Müller, K., Lengheimer, T., Kral-Pointner, J. B. et al. 2022. Exposure to soiled bedding reduces abnormal repetitive behaviors in mice. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16, 1062864.

Hygiene management protocols in laboratory mouse husbandries worldwide most commonly employ soiled bedding-exposed sentinel mice to monitor the occurrence of infections in mouse colonies. Using this approach, sentinel mice repeatedly receive a mixture of used...

Santymire, R. M., Young, M., Lenihan, E. et al. 2022. Preliminary investigation into developing the use of swabs for skin cortisol analysis for the ocean sunfish (Mola mola). Animals 12(20), 2868.

The ocean sunfish (mola; Mola mola) is the heaviest bony fish in the world. This slow-moving fish often is injured by fishing boats that use drift gillnets attributing to its listing as Vulnerable by the...

Wahltinez, S. J., Stacy, N. I., Hadfield, C. A. et al. 2022. Perspective: Opportunities for advancing aquatic invertebrate welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 973376.

Welfare considerations and regulations for invertebrates have lagged behind those for vertebrates, despite invertebrates comprising more than 95% of earth’s species. Humans interact with and use aquatic invertebrates for exhibition in zoos and aquaria, as...

Sørensen, D., Cloutier, S., Gaskill, B. (Eds.). 2021. Animal-centric Care and Management - Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

The concept of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) has been used as a framework for improving the welfare of laboratory animals for the last half century. By establishing an animal-centric view on housing and...

Hart, A., Reynolds, Z., Troxell-Smith, S. 2021. Using individual-specific conditioning to reduce stereotypic behaviours: A study on smooth dogfish Mustelus canis in captivity. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 9(3), 193-199.

Despite how frequently stereotypic behaviours are discussed in the field of animal behaviour and welfare, research on stereotypies in captive elasmobranchs is far less represented in the literature compared to studies on mammalian species. This...

Prior, H., Blunt, H., Crossman, L. et al. 2021. Refining procedures within regulatory toxicology studies: Improving animal welfare and data. Animals 11(11), 3057.

During the development of potential new medicines or agrochemicals, an assessment of the safety profile to humans and environmental species is conducted using a range of different in silico and in vitro techniques in conjunction...

Garcia, T., Brown, C., Margolies, D. et al. 2021. Grinding on a last nerve: Attempting to curb food grinding in mice. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(6) (November/December), 34-36.

Food grinding, or chewing food without ingestion, is a topic of interest in the laboratory animal community. In addition to increased effort needed to deal with this excess waste and provide suitable microenvironment for animals...

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...

Zemanova, M. A. 2020. Towards more compassionate wildlife research through the 3Rs principles: Moving from invasive to noninvasive methods. Wildlife Biology 2020(1), no page numbers.

Research in ecology and wildlife biology remains crucial for increasing our knowledge and improving species management and conservation in the midst of the current biodiversity crisis. However, obtaining information on population status often involves invasive...

Whittaker, A. L., Barker, T. H. 2020. The impact of common recovery blood sampling methods, in mice (Mus musculus), on well-being and sample quality: A systematic review. Animals 10(6), 989.

Blood sampling is often performed in laboratory mice. Sampling techniques have the potential to cause pain, distress and impact on lifetime cumulative experience. In spite of institutions commonly providing guidance to researchers on these methods...

Oralman, T. 2020. Confronting crunching: A refinement for the care of mice with the desire to crunch. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(1), 89-91.

‘Crunching’ is the term often used to describe the abnormal behaviour of mice that habitually crunch their pelleted diet, causing substrate levels to rise as the crumbs settle on the cage floor ultimately burying the...