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. 
Gaskill, B. N., Stottler, A. M., Garner, J. P. et al. 2017. The effect of early life experience, environment, and genetic factors on spontaneous home-cage aggression-related wounding in male C57BL/6 mice. Lab Animal 46(4), 176-184.

Aggression is a major welfare issue in mice, particularly when mice unfamiliar to each other are first placed in cages, as happens on receipt from a vendor, and following cage cleaning. Injuries from aggression are...

Moore, E. S., Cleland, T. A., Williams, W. O. et al. 2017. Comparing phlebotomy by tail tip amputation, facial vein puncture, and tail vein incision in C57BL/6 mice by using physiologic and behavioral metrics of pain and distress. JAALAS 56(3), 307-317.

Tail tip amputation with minimal restraint is not widely used for mouse phlebotomy. In part, this infrequency may reflect policies influenced by tail tip amputation procedures for genotyping, which involve greater handling and tissue removal...

Waters, J. 2017. Time for change? Practicalities of implementing non-aversive methods for handling mice. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(1), 47-56.

Recent studies have shown that the method choice for handling laboratory mice is important to animal welfare. In 2015, 60% of all animals used in Home Office procedures were laboratory mice. Given the large number...

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...

McMillan, J. L., Bloomsmith, M. A., Prescott, M. J. 2017. An international survey of approaches to chair restraint of nonhuman primates. Comparative Medicine 67(5), 442–451.

Specifically designed restraint chairs are the preferred method of restraint for research studies that require NHP to sit in place for sustained periods of time. In light of increasing emphasis on refinement of restraint to...

Cooper, J. E., Hull, G. 2017. Gorilla Pathology and Health: With a Catalogue of Preserved Materials. Elsevier/Academic Print, London, UK.

Gorilla Pathology and Health: With a Catalogue of Preserved Materials consists of two cross-referenced parts. The first, the book itself, is a review of pathological changes and tissue responses in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla and G...

Hill, H. M. 2017. The psychology of cows? A case of over-interpretation and personification. Animal Behavior and Cognition 4(4), 506–511.

Reviews of existing literature on topics that have been neglected, such as the subject of the cognitive and affective abilities of cows, are productive and necessary exercises in science (Elwen, Findlay, Kiszka, & Weir, 2011...

Marino, L., Allen, K. 2017. The psychology of cows. Animal Behavior and Cognition 4(4), 474–498

Domestic cows (Bos taurus) are consumed worldwide as beef and veal, kept as dairy product producers, employed as draft animals in labor, and are used for a long list of other products, including leather and...

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...

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...

Bode, A. E., Barber, H. 2014. Use of vinyl nonadhesive tape as an alternative for positioning rodents in small animal imaging. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 597-598. (Abstract #P185).

Specific positioning for different imaging modalities is essential in our small animal imaging core. While we have different animal holders designed to position the animal inside the MRI, additional securing of the animal to the...

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...

Young, M., Lawson, G. W., Duarte-Vogel, S. et al. 2014. Minimizing symptoms and stress in seizure-prone mice by using acupressure during routine handling. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 555 (Abstract #P29).

Many laboratory mice used in research experience spontaneous seizures during cage changing and routine handling. The triggers are usually the abrupt sound and sudden motion of the cage. These seizures can range from mild to...

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...

Teilmann, A. C., Madsen, A. N., Holst, B. et al. 2014. Impact of blood sampling procedures on the welfare of laboratory mice. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 600-601. (Abstract #P195).

A previous study showed that blood sampling either automatically, through a catheter, or by puncture of the tail vein is less stressful than facial vein phlebotomy in mice. We decided to investigate how facial vein...

Voigt, C. C., Klockner, P., Touma, C. et al. 2013. Hormonal stress response of laboratory mice to conventional and minimally invasive bleeding techniques. Animal Welfare 22(4), 449-455.

Conventional bleeding of small laboratory animals is often associated with stress and injuries that can cause haematomas, inflammation and ultimately the death of animals under investigation. Here, we used faecal glucocorticoid metabolites as an indicator...

Sadler, A. M., Bailey, S. J. 2013. Validation of a refined technique for taking repeated blood samples from juvenile and adult mice. Laboratory Animals 47(4), 316-319.

Repeated blood sampling from laboratory animals is desirable in certain experimental designs and also for reducing the number of animals used in research. Biochemical methods for analysing blood samples require only small blood volumes to...

Pater, C. S. 2013. Rabbit hypnosis as a form of mild restraint: A forgotten method. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 615 (Abstract #PS42).

Rabbit hypnosis or “trancing” was a common restraint technique used for minor procedures such as: nail clipping, tooth trimming, eye exams, and subcutaneous injections. In years past the technique was originally used on pet rabbits...

Cruden, J., Bester, J., Baines, N. et al. 2013. Will a more consistent handling method lead to a calmer rabbit? Animal Technology and Welfare 11, 127-130.

The authors describe various methods of handling and restraining rabbits, and propose that while many methods are appropriate, rabbits respond better if only one method is used consistently.

Coleman, K. 2012. Individual differences in temperament and behavioral management practices for nonhuman primates. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 137(3-4), 106-113.

This review will examine how individual differences in temperament might affect, or be affected by, behavioral management practices for captive primates. Measuring temperament may help us predict the outcome of social introductions. It can also...

Zahorsky-Reeves, J. 2011. The choice of bedding substrate, route of blood collection, and method of glucose determination all affect fasting blood glucose levels in C57BL/6 mice. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 738 (Abstract #PS80).

This study compared 4 bedding substrates (corncob, paper, hardwood chip, and wire-bottomed cage inserts) and 2 routes of blood collection (lateral tail vein and retroorbital sinus) in 6 male C57BL/6NCrl mice. Mice were maintained with...

Swennes, A. G., Alworth, L. C., Harvey, S. B. et al. 2011. Human handling promotes compliant behavior in adult laboratory rabbits. JAALAS 50(2), 41-45.

Routine laboratory procedures can be stressful for laboratory animals. We wanted to determine whether human handling of adult rabbits could induce a degree of habituation, reducing stress and facilitating research-related manipulation. To this end, adult...