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. 

While numerous published studies have evaluated the effect of housing density on the wellbeing of laboratory mice, little is known on the effect of breeding configuration. The eighth edition of the Guide for the Care...

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...

Environmental enrichment is designed to improve the overall welfare of laboratory animals, including mice. Few studies have directly assessed the effects of different types of enrichment on mouse offspring survival and growth. The authors examined...

Dynamic changes in housing and husbandry techniques based on the concept of 3Rs should be included as routine practice in breeding and experimental animal facilities tending to improve animal welfare. Immunosupressed mice are susceptible to...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Large-scale aquaculture facilities require highly optimized husbandry protocols that maximize fecundity and embryo health while minimizing cost and effort. Although zebrafish are being increasingly used for preclinical drug screens, functional genomic research and toxicological and...

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...

Fish have the same stress response and powers of nociception as mammals. Their behavioural responses to a variety of situations suggest a considerable ability for higher level neural processing – a level of consciousness equivalent...

The question was asked: "Rodents are often restrained for data collection procedures, such as blood collection and injection, by coaxing them into tubes, for example syringe cylinders or perspex tubes. What can be done to...

It was found that heart rate (HR), and to a lesser extent also body temperature (BT), parallels plasma corticosterone (pCORT) values after subjecting the animals to different methods of restraint. Secondly, the acute stress response...

This article provides details to consider when preparing to use animals in biomedical research. The stress of transport and receipt of animals into a new environment mandate the need for a period of stabilization and...