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. 
Lambert, H., Cornish, A., Waley, D. 2024. The value of regulating stocking densities in aquaculture must not be dismissed: A reply to Saraiva et al. 2022. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.

We would like to rebut the argument made by Saraiva et al. (1) in their paper “Finding the “golden stocking density”: a balance between fish welfare and farmers' perspectives,” that stocking densities should not be...

Watanabe, S. 2023. Infrared thermography for non-invasive measurement of social inequality aversion in rodents and potential usefulness for future animal-friendly studies. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17, 1131427.

Infrared thermography is a method that detects thermal radiation energy and can measure the body surface temperature of animals from a distance. While rectal temperature has traditionally been used to measure animals’ core temperature, thermal...

Alejandro, J., Yamanashi, Y., Nemoto, K. et al. 2023. Reducing stress and stereotypic behaviors in captive female pygmy slow lorises (Nycticebus pygmeaus). American Journal of Primatology 85(7), e23495.

Improving captive conditions of pygmy slow lorises (Nekaris and Nijman have recently suggested that the pygmy slow loris should be called the pygmy loris and is distinctive enough to warrant a new genus, Xanthonycticebu) (Nycticebus...

Majelantle, T. L., Ganswindt, A., Ganswindt, S. B. et al. 2023. Non-invasive quantification of faecal and urine reproductive hormone metabolites in the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Animals 13(19), 3039.

The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) occurs in colonies with a distinct dominance hierarchy, including one dominant, breeding female (the queen), 1–3 breeding males, and non-reproductive subordinates of both sexes that are reproductively suppressed while in...

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...

Blenkuš, U., Gerós, A. F., Carpinteiro, C. et al. 2022. Non-invasive assessment of mild stress-induced hyperthermia by infrared thermography in laboratory mice. Animals 12(2), 177.

Stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH) is a physiological response to acute stressors in mammals, shown as an increase in core body temperature, with redirection of blood flow from the periphery to vital organs. Typical temperature assessment methods...

Scariot, P. P., Gobatto, C. A., Polisel, E. E. et al. 2022. Early-life mice housed in standard stocking density reduce the spontaneous physical activity and increase visceral fat deposition before reaching adulthood. Laboratory Animals 56(4), 344-355.

Laboratory rodents spend the entire day housed in standard cages that provide a restricted area for movements and might, therefore, limit physical activity. However, it has not been tested in immature rodents of ages ranging...

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...

Saraiva, J. L., Rachinas-Lopes, P., Arechavala-Lopez, P. 2022. Finding the “golden stocking density”: A balance between fish welfare and farmers’ perspectives. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 930221.

The effects of stocking density on fish welfare are complex and involve many interacting parameters. This complex relationship between fish welfare, stocking density and influencing factors make it challenging to define a specific optimal (“golden”)...

Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Kuhn, D. D. et al. 2022. Impact of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Animal Cognition 25(5), 1331–1343.

Environmental condition, such as environmental complexity or stocking density, can directly or indirectly influence animal emotion and ultimately, affective state. Affective states of animals can be assessed through judgement bias tests, evaluating responses to ambiguous...

Byrnes, E. E., Lear, K. O., Morgan, D. L. et al. 2020. Respirometer in a box: Development and use of a portable field respirometer for estimating oxygen consumption of large‐bodied fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 96(4), 1045-1050.

Respirometry has become the standard method for measuring the metabolic rate of fishes. Traditionally, respirometry has required the fish to be kept in captivity and tested under controlled conditions; however, many species do not readily...

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...

van der Vinne, V., Pothecary, C. A., Wilcox, S. L. et al. 2020. Continuous and non-invasive thermography of mouse skin accurately describes core body temperature patterns, but not absolute core temperature. Scientific Reports 10(1), 20680.

Body temperature is an important physiological parameter in many studies of laboratory mice. Continuous assessment of body temperature has traditionally required surgical implantation of a telemeter, but this invasive procedure adversely impacts animal welfare. Near-infrared...

Elmi, A., Galligioni, V., Govoni, N. et al. 2020. Quantification of hair corticosterone, DHEA and testosterone as a potential tool for welfare assessment in male laboratory mice. Animals 10(12), 2408.

Steroids, providing information regarding several biological patterns including stress and sexual behavior, have been investigated in different matrices in laboratory mice. Data regarding hair quantification, indicative of longer timespans when compared to blood and saliva...

Kloefkorn H, Aiani, L. M., Lakhani, A. et al. 2020. Noninvasive three-state sleep-wake staging in mice using electric field sensors. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 344, 108834.

Study Objective: Validate a novel method for sleep-wake staging in mice using noninvasive electric field (EF) sensors. Methods: Mice were implanted with electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) electrodes and housed individually. Noninvasive EF sensors were...

McKenzie, D. J., Sadoul, B., Geffroy, B. 2019. Measuring cortisol, the major stress hormone in fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 94(4), 540-555.

Stress in teleosts is an increasingly studied topic because of its interaction with growth, reproduction, immune system and ultimately fitness of the animal. Whether it is for evaluating welfare in aquaculture, adaptive capacities in fish...

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...

Rowland, N. E., Toth, L. A. 2019. Analytic and interpretational pitfalls to measuring fecal corticosterone metabolites in laboratory rats and mice. Comparative Medicine 69(5), 337–349.

Minimization and alleviation of stress are generally viewed as desirable aspects of laboratory animal management and use. However, achieving that goal requires an unambiguous and valid measure of stress. Glucocorticoid concentrations are commonly used as...

Mei, J., Riedel, N., Grittner, U. et al. 2018. Body temperature measurement in mice during acute illness: Implantable temperature transponder versus surface infrared thermometry. Scientific Reports 8, 3526.

Body temperature is a valuable parameter in determining the wellbeing of laboratory animals. However, using body temperature to refine humane endpoints during acute illness generally lacks comprehensiveness and exposes to inter-observer bias. Here we compared...

Bailoo, J. D., Murphy, E., Varholick, J. A. et al. 2018. Evaluation of the effects of space allowance on measures of animal welfare in laboratory mice. Scientific Reports 8, 713.

We studied how space allowance affects measures of animal welfare in mice by systematically varying group size and cage type across three levels each in both males and females of two strains of mice (C57BL/6ByJ...

Unakafov, A. M., Möller, S., Kagan, I. et al. 2018. Using imaging photoplethysmography for heart rate estimation in non-human primates. PLOS ONE 13(8), e0202581.

For humans and for non-human primates heart rate is a reliable indicator of an individual’s current physiological state, with applications ranging from health checks to experimental studies of cognitive and emotional state. In humans, changes...

Grant, C., Marks, L., Prior, H. 2017. Provision of food and water in rodent whole body plethysmography safety pharmacology respiratory studies – Impact on animal welfare and data quality. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 88(Part 1), 79-84.

Introduction: We evaluated the feasibility of providing food and water to rodents during whole body plethysmography (WBP) studies as a welfare improvement to standard conditions. Methods: Male Han Wistar rats or CD1 mice (n=8) were...

Crast, J., Bloomsmith, M. A., Jonesteller, T. 2015. Effects of changing housing conditions on mangabey behavior (Cercocebus atys): Spatial density, housing quality, and novelty effects. American Journal of Primatology 77(9), 1001-1014.

The separate influences of spatial density and housing quality on the behavior of captive animals are difficult to measure because the two factors are often intrinsically linked. Here, we recorded affiliative and agonistic behavior in...

Pearson, B. L., Reeder, D. M., Judge, P. G. 2015. Crowding increases salivary cortisol but not self-directed behavior in captive baboons. American Journal of Primatology 77, 462-67.

Reduced space can lead to crowding in social animals. Crowding increases the risk of agonistic interactions that, in turn, may require additional physiological defensive coping mechanisms affecting health. To determine the stress induced from increased...