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. 
Bill, J., Rauterberg, S. L., Stracke, J. et al. 2019. Prevalence and severity of tail lesions as a possible welfare indicator for rabbit does. Animal Welfare 28(4), 511-518.

The impact of behavioural disorders on animal welfare in modern animal husbandry has been much debated. While other abnormal behaviours have been explored at length, there are a paucity of studies on tail-biting in rabbits...

Sherwen, S. L., Hemsworth, P. H. The visitor effect on zoo animals: Implications and opportunities for zoo animal welfare. Animals 9(6), 366.

Achieving and maintaining high standards of animal welfare is critical to the success of a modern zoo. Research has shown that an animal's welfare is highly dependent on how various individual animal factors (e.g., species...

Decina, C., Berke, O., van Staaveren, N. et al. 2019. Development of a scoring system to assess feather damage in Canadian laying hen flocks. Animals 9(7), 436.

Feather damage (FD) due to feather pecking behavior is an ongoing welfare concern among commercial egg-laying hens. Canada's current transition from conventional cage housing to alternative housing systems, where FD can spread easily within large...

Shi, H., Li, B., Tong, Q. et al. 2019. Effects of LED light color and intensity on feather pecking and fear responses of layer breeders in natural mating colony cages. Animals 9(10), 814.

Natural mating colony cages for layer breeders have become commonplace for layer breeders in China. However, feather pecking (FP) and cannibalism are prominent in this system. The objective of this study was to investigate the...

Tracy, L. M., Temple, S. M., Bennett, D. C. et al. 2019. The reliability and accuracy of palpation, radiography, and sonography for the detection of keel bone damage. Animals 9(11), 894.

Palpation is the most popular method of measuring keel bone damage on live birds, although it has been criticized for being subjective and inaccurate. The goals of this study were to examine intra- and inter-rater...

Rentsch, A. K., Rufener, C. B., Spadavecchia, C. et al. 2019. Laying hen’s mobility is impaired by keel bone fractures and does not improve with paracetamol treatment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 216, 19-25.

Keel bone fractures (KBF) in laying hens pose a severe problem for animal welfare as they are likely to be associated with pain and suffering. Furthermore, they are suspected to hinder or restrict hens in...

Moyano Barbosa, H., Gama Nogueira-Filho, S. L., Nogueira de Morais, R. et al. 2019. Non-invasive stress monitoring and temperament of chestnut-bellied seed-finch (Passeriformes, Thraupidae). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 220, 104859.

Songbirds are kept as pets around the world, and bird-singing contests occur in several countries. However, there is a lack of scientific support for songbird welfare and stress monitoring. Thus, we aimed to validate the...

Shi, H., Li, B., Tong, Q. et al. 2019. Influence of nest boxes and claw abrasive devices on feather pecking and the fear responses of layer breeders in natural mating colony cages. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 220, 104842.

Natural mating colony cages for parent-stock layer breeders, instead of conventional cages with artificial insemination, have been widely adopted by many commercial farms in China. Although some natural mating behaviours can be expressed and broader...

Harris, K., New, R., Smith, P. et al. 2019. Refinement: promoting Gallus Gallus welfare in an experimental poultry unit. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 137-139. (IAT Congress 2018 Poster Presentation)

The poultry team at The Pirbright Institute reviewed existing husbandry practices and trialled several refinement practices. The objective was to provide the birds used in research with an environment which enables them to express their...

Lee, L. Y., Lee, D., Ryu, H. et al. 2019. Capnography-guided endotracheal intubation as an alternative to existing intubation methods in rabbits. JAALAS 58(2), 240-245.

Rabbits provide a unique challenge for routine endotracheal intubation in clinical practice because of various distinctive anatomic and physiologic features. Many previously proposed methods for endotracheal intubation in rabbits are limited by several factors, including...

Association of Primate Veterinarians. 2019. Association of Primate Veterinarians’ guidelines for nonhuman primate restraint. JAALAS 58(3), 282-284.

The Association of Primate Veterinarians (APV) recognizes that several forms of restraint, including physical and chemical, are necessary for the safe handling of nonhuman primates (NHPs). The following guidelines aim to provide information to researchers...

Sørensen, D. B., Metzdorff, S. B., Jensen, L. K. et al. 2019. Time-dependent pathologic and inflammatory consequences of various blood sampling techniques in mice. JAALAS 58(3), 362-372.

We compared 6 frequently used mouse blood-sampling methods (lateral tail incision; tail-tip amputation; sublingual, submandibular, and saphenous vein puncture; and retrobulbar sinus puncture during isoflurane anesthesia) with regard to induction of local and systemic inflammation...

Dutton III, J. W., Artwohl, J. E., Huang, X. et al. 2019. Assessment of pain associated with the injection of sodium pentobarbital in laboratory mice (Mus musculus). JAALAS 58(3), 373-379.

The AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals considers injection of barbiturates to be an acceptable method of euthanasia in rodents but states there is a potential for pain when administered intraperitoneally. This study examined...

Falkenberg, M. K., Teilmann, A. C., Henriksen, T. et al. 2019. Clinical, physiologic, and behavioral evaluation of permanently catheterized NMRI mice. JAALAS 58(3), 380-389.

Vascular catheterization is becoming a popular technique in laboratory rodents, facilitating repetitive blood sampling and infusion in individual animals. In mice, catheterization is complicated by their small body size, which may increase the risk of...

Association of Primate Veterinarians. 2019. Association of Primate Veterinarians’ Position Statement: Cerebrospinal fluid aspiration for nonhuman primates in biomedical research. JAALAS 58(4), 428-429.

The Association of Primate Veterinarians (APV) recognizes that CSF collection may be required for both clinical and research purposes in nonhuman primates (NHP). Because there are inherent risks associated with the technique, the laboratory animal...

Nosaka, N., Crother, T. R., Chen, S. et al. 2019. Optimal tube length of orotracheal intubation for mice. Laboratory Animals 53(1), 79–83.

Endotracheal tube (ETT) management is an essential technique in handling mice with mechanical ventilators. Malposition into bronchi causes not only lethal complications for them but also less efficient mechanical ventilation. However, in general, it is...

Bertin, A., Mocz, F., Calandreau, L. et al. 2019. Human behaviour at the origin of maternal effects on offspring behaviour in laying hens (Gallus gallus domesticus). Physiology & Behavior 201, 175-183.

Regular visual presence of humans is known to reduce chickens' human-generated stress responses. Here we questioned whether, more than mere visual presence, human behaviour affects laying hen behaviour and subsequently their offspring's behaviour. We hypothesized...

Gjendal, K., Lund Ottesen, J., Olsson, I. A. S. et al. 2019. Burrowing and nest building activity in mice after exposure to grid floor, isoflurane or ip injections. Physiology & Behavior 206, 59-66.

Burrowing and nest building are examples of highly motivated innate behaviours in rodents. Assessments based on these behaviours can be used as non-invasive indicators of pain, distress and suffering. In this study, we investigated the...

Franco, N. H., Gerós, A., Oliveira, L. et al. 2019. ThermoLabAnimal – A high-throughput analysis software for non-invasive thermal assessment of laboratory mice. Physiology & Behavior, 207, 113-121.

Body temperature changes in laboratory mice are often assessed by invasive and stressful methods, which may confound the measurement. Infrared thermography is a possible non-invasive alternative, but the cost of standard thermal cameras, lack of...

Redaelli, V., Papa, S., Marsella, G. et al. 2019. A refinement approach in a mouse model of rehabilitation research. Analgesia strategy, reduction approach and infrared thermography in spinal cord injury. PLOS ONE 14(10), e0224337.

The principles of Refinement, Replacement and Reduction (3R’s) should be taken into account when animals must be used for scientific purpose. Here, a Reduction / Refinement approach was applied to the procedure of spinal cord...

Correia de Lima Almeida Paz, I., Correia de Lima Almeida, I., Milbradt, E. L. et al. 2019. Effects of analgesic and noise stimulus in gait score assessment. PLOS ONE 14(1), e0208827.

This experiment was carried out aiming to assess walking manner and speed of broiler chickens with different gait scores (GS), with or without sound stimulus, and with or without administration of analgesic. To that end...

Koski, S. K., Leino, S., Rannanpää, S. et al. 2019. Implementation of improved postoperative care decreases the mortality rate of operated mice after an abundant 6-hydroxydopamine lesion of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. Scandinavian Journal of Laboratory Animal Science 45(1).

A mouse model of Parkinson’s disease with an abundant lesion of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons can be achieved by stereotactic injection of 6-hydroxydopamine into the medial forebrain bundle. However, postoperative mortality can be excessively high without...

Cox, R. J., Nol, P., Ellis, C. K. et al. 2019. Research with agricultural animals and wildlife. ILAR Journal 60(1), 66-73.

In fiscal year 2016, agricultural animals such as swine, sheep, goats, and cattle represented 10% of the 820 812 animals used in USDA-regulated research. In addition to traditional agricultural animals, research studies using captive wildlife...

Robinson, P., Trim, S., Trim, C. 2019. Non-invasive extraction of Cnidarian venom through the use of autotomised tentacles. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(3), 167-173.

The animals contained within the phylum Cnidaria (Sea Anemones, Corals, Sea Pens, Jellyfish, Boxjellies and Hydra) have origins that can be dated back to around 750 million years ago (mya) and as such, they represent...

Kaye, N. 2019. A technologist-led approach to altering the culture of care regarding blood sampling. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(3), 213-216.

This poster will describe the implementation by Animal Technologists and Named Persons of a well published refined bleeding technique. Establishing The Francis Crick Institute from legacy institutes required a standardised approach for many techniques, including...