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. 
Niu, Y., Zhang, M., Liu, J. 2011. The effect of cage enrichment on fluctuating asymmetry and fecal corticosterone of group-housed laboratory mice. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 740 (Abstract #PS91).

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) represents small, random deviations from symmetry in bilaterally symmetrical anatomic characteristics, is highly correlated with the amount of stress during development, and thus, is considered as a potential welfare indicator. In the...

Neves, S. 2011. Effects of environmental enrichment on the production of C57BL/6 mice kept in different housing systems. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 788 (Abstract #P201).

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...

Nam-Mi Gross, A., Engela, A. K. J., Würbel, H. 2011. Simply a nest? Effects of different enrichments on stereotypic and anxiety-related behaviour in mice. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 134(3-4), 239-245 .

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...

Lett, G. S. 2011. The beneficial effects of enrichment on diabetic mice. Enrichment Record 6, 5.

In the last issue of The Enrichment Record, Emily Patterson-Kane and I reported on the work (Cao, Liu et al.) in which investigators demonstrated that even short-term exposure to environmental enrichment (EE) improved resistance to...

Griess, R. S. 2011. Environmental enrichment improves fertility and pup survival. Tech Talk [The Newsletter for Laboratory Animal Science Technicians] 16(1), 2-3.

Historically, we have added approximately half a cup of shredded aspen bedding for nest making into each littering cage. This procedure was continued as we looked into additional environmental enrichment. There are many types of...

Gaskill, B., Winnicker, C. L., Garner, J. P. et al. 2011. The naked truth: Breeding performance in outbred and inbred strains of nude mice with and without nesting material. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 741 (Abstract #PS95).

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...

Gaskill, B., Garner, J. P., Pritchett-Corning, K. 2011. Energy reallocation to breeding performance through improved behavioral thermoregulation. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 771 (Abstract #P120).

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...

Breegi, S. 2011. Evaluation of nesting materials for use in nude mouse colonies. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 782 (Abstract #P171).

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...

Gaskill, B. N., Rohr, S., Lucas, J. R. et al. 2011. Working with what you've got: Changes in thermal preference and behavior in mice with or without nest material. Journal of Thermal Biology. 36(3), 193-199.

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...

Swetter, B. J., Karpiak, C. P., Cannon, J. T. 2011. Separating the effects of shelter from additional cage enhancements for group-housed BALB/cJ mice. Neuroscience Letters 495(3), 205-209.

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...

Research Department, RSPCA. 2011. Rabbits: Good Practice for Housing and Care (3rd edition).

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.

Araki, A. 2010. Using environmental enrichment to reduce fighting in mice. Tech Talk [The Newsletter for Laboratory Animal Science Technicians] 15(4), 6.

A colony of mice (base strain C57Bl6) was transferred to Oregon State University. Fighting was observed in six cages of males (2 to 5 mice per cage) at cage change, but not during daily checks...

Õkva, K., Nevalainen, T., Mauranen, K. et al. 2010. The effect of three different items of cage furniture on the behaviour of male C57BL/6J mice in the plus-maze test. Animal Welfare 19(4), 401-409.

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...

Williams-Fritze, M. J., Altieri, J. A., Clough, C. et al. 2010. Modification of a dog cage for use as an exercise unit for rabbits. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 703 (Abstract #P70).

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...

Tilly, S.-L. C., Dallaire, J., Mason, G. J. 2010. Middle-aged mice with enrichment-resistant stereotypic behaviour show reduced motivation for enrichment. Animal Behaviour 80(3), 363-373.

For captive animals, living in barren conditions leads to stereotypic behaviour that is hard to alleviate using environmental enrichment. This resistance to enrichment is often explained via mechanisms that decouple abnormal behaviour from current welfare...

Santos, R. A., Fontes, R. S., Ong, F. M. et al. 2010. Effects of environmental enrichment and housing system on weight gain of C57BL/6 mice. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 712-713 (Abstract #P100).

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...

Pawlowicz, A., Demner, A., Lewis, M. H. 2010. Effects of access to voluntary wheel running on the development of stereotypy. Behavioural Processes 83(3), 242-246.

Stereotyped motor behaviors are a common consequence of environmental restriction in a wide variety of species. Although environmental enrichment has been shown to substantially reduce stereotypy levels, the various components of enrichment have not been...

Oteham, C. P. 2010. Effects of specific environmental enrichment contributing to litter size and attrition rate of TRP1/TGfβ transgenic mice in a breeding colony. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 698 (Abstract #P51).

In previous studies of environmental enrichment of mice it has been determined that certain types of mice are affected by manipulation of their living environment. Some have effects on cognitive memory and some affect the...

Li, W. J., Yu, H., Yang, J. M. et al. 2010. Anxiolytic effect of music exposure on BDNFMet/Met transgenic mice. Brain Research 1347, 71-79.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been reported to play important roles in the modulation of anxiety, mood stabilizers, and pathophysiology of affective disorders. Recently, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the BDNF gene (Val66Met) has...

Howard, B., Nevalainen, T., Perretta, G. (ed). 2010. The COST Manual of Laboratory Animal Care and Use: Refinement, Reduction, and Research (1st Ed). CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

COST Action B-24 established four working groups to research and discuss issues relevant to laboratory animal science. These included the housing of animals, environmental needs, refinement of procedures, genetically modified animals, and cost-benefit analysis. Based...

Harper, V., Frey, A., Bradley, D. et al. 2010. Recognizing and addressing stereotypic behaviors. Tech Talk [The Newsletter for Laboratory Animal Science Technicians] 15(4), 2.

The combination of mouse igloos and running wheels proved to be highly effective in reducing flipping, circling, and jumping.

Froberg-Fejko, K. M. 2010. Benefits of providing nesting material as a from of environmental enrichment for mice. Lab Animal 39(10), 326-327.

Husbandry conditions in a laboratory environment can be barren and monotonous. Improving those conditions by providing opportunities for laboratory mice to engage in species-specific behavior can improve their mental and physical well-being. Giving the animals...

Farmer, A. M. 2010. Housing, care and accommodation: An inspector's observation on how these can affect rodent welfare. Animal Technology and Welfare 9, 94-96.

In my view it is vitally important that scientists and management pay attention to what animal technologists and care staff have to say about the care and requirements of experimental animals.

Emmott, M. 2010. Covance animal environmental enrichment programme: In-house enrichment items, their benefits and the process of implementation. Animal Technology and Welfare 9, 189-190.

Some enrichment objects for rats, rabbits, dogs and macaques are demonstrated.

Edgar, J. L., Seaman, S. C. 2010. The effect of mirrors on the behaviour of singly housed male and female laboratory rabbits. Animal Welfare 19(4), 461-471.

It is widely recognised that single housing is detrimental to the welfare of social species. However, some experimental procedures dictate that laboratory animals are housed individually. There is evidence to suggest that, by mimicking social...