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. 
Gardiner, P. 2016. Going outside ASPA guidelines. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(1), 47-52.

This article will discuss an improved and refined technique used for working and caring for a group of diabetic mice. As a team of animal technologists, academics and named veterinary surgeon, we developed a new...

Enser, S. 2016. Comparison of housing and welfare of group housed rabbits. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(1), 77-79.

This poster is based on welfare improvements gained from group housing rabbits in floor pens in the new Antibody Production Facility with a focus on development, behaviours and environmental enrichment in both male and female...

O'Keefe, S. 2016. Non-human primate housing facility at Newcastle University. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(2), 131-132.

Monkeys first arrived in the Comparative Biology Centre (CBC) at Newcastle University in 2000. They were housed in three small separate units consisting of steel and wooden cages. In 2011 a decision was made to...

Atkinson, R. 2016. Do different strains prefer different enrichments? Animal Technology and Welfare 15(2), 133-135.

This study was aimed at discovering if C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice have a preferred type of enrichment. The findings will help identify the right type of enrichment for each strain and ultimately aid in keeping...

Hendershott, T. R., Cronin, M. E., Langella, S. et al. 2016. Effects of environmental enrichment on anxiety-like behavior, sociability, sensory gating, and spatial learning in male and female C57BL/6J mice. Behavioural Brain Research 314, 215-225.

The influence of housing on cognition and emotional regulation in mice presents a problem for the study of genetic and environmental risk factors for neuropsychiatric disorders: standard laboratory housing may result in low levels of...

Kim-McCormack, N. N. E., Smith, C. L., Behie, A. M. 2016. Is interactive technology a relevant and effective enrichment for captive great apes? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 185, 1-8.

All non-human great apes are endangered, and for these animals, captive individuals play an important role in the species’ conservation management plan. Therefore, information about their current enrichment activities is essential for maintaining a healthy...

Joshi, S., Pillay, N. 2016. Personality predicts the responses to environmental enrichment at the group but not within-groups in stereotypic African striped mice, Rhabdomys dilectus. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 182, 44-52.

Environmental enrichment is used to enhance the well-being of captive animals and to prevent or reduce stereotypic and other abnormal behaviours. However, environmental enrichment does not always succeed in its intended purpose. We investigated whether...

Bozicovich, T. F. M., Moura, A. S. A. M. T., Fernandes, S. et al. 2016. Effect of environmental enrichment and composition of the social group on the behavior, welfare, and relative brain weight of growing rabbits. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 182, 72-79.

The objective of the study was to investigate if environmental enrichment and the composition of the social group would affect the behavior and relative brain weight of growing rabbits. Rabbits (72 males and 72 females)...

Evans, H. 2016. Blending up solutions for nesting needs. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 4(4) (December), 31-32.

This article describes a creative solution to enable poor nest building mice to use compressed cotton squares: putting the squares in a blender for 5 seconds. This results in a billowy, completely shredded fluff that...

Winnicker, C., Gaskill, B., Garner, J. P. et al. 2016. A Guide to the Behavior & Enrichment of Laboratory Rodents. Charles River Laboratories.

Covering species-typical behavior as well as abnormal/malfunctional behavior and stereotypes observed in mice, rats, hamsters and gerbils, this is an excellent resource for those looking to implement or enhance an existing behavioral husbandry and enrichment...

Clipperton-Allen, A. E., Ingrao, J. C., Ruggerio, L. et al. 2015. Long-term provision of environmental resources alters behavior but not physiology or neuroanatomy of male and female BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. JAALAS 54(6), 718-30.

Few studies have evaluated the long-term effects of providing environmental resources to mice. This consideration is important given that mice are often maintained in vivaria for months. We evaluated the effects of providing simple cage...

Lockworth, C. R., Kim, S., Liu, J. et al. 2015. Effect of enrichment devices on aggression in manipulated nude mice. JAALAS 54(6), 731-736.

Agonistic behavior in group-housed male mice is a recurring problem in many animal research facilities. Common management procedures, such as the removal of aggressors, are moderately successful but often fail, owing to recurrence of aggressive...

Goto, T., Okayama, T., Toyoda, A. 2015. Strain differences in temporal changes of nesting behaviors in C57BL/6N, DBA/2N, and their F1 hybrid mice assessed by a three-dimensional monitoring system. Behavioural Processes 119, 86-92.

Nest building is one of the innate behaviors that are widely observed throughout the animal kingdom. Previous studies have reported specific brain regions and genetic loci associated with nest building in mice. These studies mainly...

Harper, L., Choleris, E., Ervin, K. et al. 2015. Stereotypic mice are aggressed by their cage-mates and tend to be poor demonstrators in social learning tasks. Animal Welfare. 24(4), 463-473.

Stereotypic behaviours (SBs) are linked with behavioural inflexibility and resemble symptoms of autism, suggesting that stereotypic animals could have autistic-like social impairments. SBs are also common in caged mice. We therefore hypothesised relationships between stereotypic...

Jirkof, P. 2015. Effects of experimental housing conditions on recovery of laboratory mice. Lab Animal 44(2), 65-70.

The beneficial effects of environment and social support during disease recovery in humans are widely accepted. Because laboratory mice are social animals and are highly motivated to interact with each other and with their environment...

Maher, R. L., Barbash, S. M., Lynch, D. V. et al. 2015. Group housing and nest building only slightly ameliorate the cold stress of typical housing in female C57BL/6J mice. American Journal of Physiology 308(12), R1070-R1079.

Huddling and nest building are two methods of behavioral thermoregulation used by mice under cold stress. In the laboratory, mice are typically housed at an ambient temperature (Ta) of 20°C, well below the lower end...

Bayne, K. A., Beaver, B. V., Mench, J. A. et al. 2015. Laboratory animal behavior. In: Laboratory Animal Medicine, 3rd edition. Fox, J. G., Anderson, L., Otto, G., et al. (eds). Elsevier, Inc., Amsterdam, NL. pp. 1617-1651.

The study of laboratory animal behavior has increased steadily over the last decade, with expanding emphasis on a variety of commonly used species. In the United States, this trend was initially focused on species for...

Washburn, D. 2015. The four Cs of psychological wellbeing: Lessons from three decades of computer-based environmental enrichment. Animal Behavior and Cognition 2(3), 218–232.

Three decades ago, the Animal Welfare Act was amended to require researchers to provide environments that promoted the psychological, as well as the physical, wellbeing of nonhuman primates maintained for research purposes. We developed a...

Witme, G. W., Snow, N. P., Moulton, R. S. 2014. Responses by wild house mice (Mus musculus) to various stimuli in a novel environment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 159, 99-106.

House mice (Mus musculus) pose a threat to the native flora and fauna on islands, and can cause significant damage wherever they have been introduced. Methods used to eradicate invasive rodents, like house mice, at...

Lima, F. B., de Oliveira, E. S. 2014. What is the impact of low testosterone levels on the anatomical and behavioral repertoire of long-term enriched housing of male mice? Behavioral Processes 108, 57-64.

Environmental enrichment is a strategy to improve animal welfare, providing brain plasticity with changes at cellular, molecular and behavioral levels. In order to test the long-term effects of enriched housing and the importance of testosterone...

Monts de Oca, N., Diaz, L., McMahen, D. et al. 2014. The use of lean management principles to enhance a nonhuman primate environmental enrichment program. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 580-581. (Abstract #P122).

Sewage back-up and overflows in the rooms of our primate facility initiated an analysis of the factors contributing to the clogging of the drains. An investigation reviewing the materials responsible for the clogging of the...

Rose, A. M., Ferrecchia, C. E., Van Andel, R. 2014. Developing an enrichment plan for water-regulated nonhuman primates. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 565 (Abstract #P60).

Environmental enrichment for nonhuman primates is an essential requirement in laboratory animal research. The Animal Welfare Regulations and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals state that the facility’s enrichment program must...

Willey, S. 2014. Nonhuman primate enrichment room planning, design, and use. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 539 (Abstract #PS52).

Princeton University continually makes efforts to improve and enhance the quality of life of our NHPs used in research. A part of this effort is to continue to improve our environmental enrichment program, promoting the...

Qi, K., De-mi, S., Chuan, Q. 2014. Current understanding and use of environmental enrichment in China. Enrichment Record 20, 8-11.

In practice, consideration is given to providing most of the species used in research,testing and education withsome level of environmental enrichment. However, although the current level of awareness and understanding about the benefits of environmental...

Schroen, A., Dunbar, M., Hughes, L. J. 2014. Useful rodent enrichment: Party in a bag. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 575-576. (Abstract #P102).

Based on standard practice, all laboratory animals should be given enrichment for physical and mental wellbeing. However, depending on the type of enrichment, it can become costly or impede with accurate health observations. We assessed...