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. 
Celeste, N. A., Emmer, K. M., Bidot, W. A. et al. 2021. Effects of cling film draping material on body temperature of mice during surgery. JAALAS 60(2), 195-200.

General anesthesia induces many systemic effects, including thermoregulatory impairment and subsequent perioperative hypothermia. Due to the animals' small size, monitoring and maintaining body temperatures in laboratory rodents during anesthesia is important for successful surgical outcomes...

Rowley, N. L., Ramos-Rivera, E., Raiciulescu, S. et al. 2021. Comparison of two hair removal methods in Sprague–Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus). JAALAS 60(2), 213-220.

Rats commonly undergo surgery for research purposes. However, the effects of different methods of hair removal on wound healing and surgical site infections (SSI) in rats has not been evaluated. The current study evaluated 2...

Voros, G. B., Dauchy, R. T., Myers, L. et al. 2021. Effects of daytime blue-enriched LED light on physiologic parameters of three common mouse strains maintained on an IVC system. JAALAS 60(3), 259-271.

Light has been a crucial part of everyday life since the beginning of time. Most recently, light-emitting diode (LED) light enriched in the blue-appearing portion of the visible spectrum (465 to 485 nm), which is...

Backström, T., Brännäs, E., Nilsson, J. et al. 2021. Proof of concept: Visual categorization of carotenoid pigmentation in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus L) can predict stress response. Journal of Fish Biology 98(4), 1192-1195.

Carotenoid pigmentation in Salvelinus alpinus has been connected to stress responsiveness in earlier studies. This has, however, only been tested with time-consuming image analysis from photos. Here, we used quick visual categorization of carotenoid pigmentation...

Hart, A., Reynolds, Z., Troxell-Smith, S. 2021. Using individual-specific conditioning to reduce stereotypic behaviours: A study on smooth dogfish Mustelus canis in captivity. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 9(3), 193-199.

Despite how frequently stereotypic behaviours are discussed in the field of animal behaviour and welfare, research on stereotypies in captive elasmobranchs is far less represented in the literature compared to studies on mammalian species. This...

Ellis, T., Katsiadaki, I. 2021. Clarification of early end-points for refinement of animal experiments, with specific reference to fish. Laboratory Animals 55(3), 244-253.

Appropriate end-points are integral to the refinement of laboratory animal experiments. Our recent experience has highlighted that ambiguity around end-points is hampering their adoption in experiments that cause severe suffering to fish. In toxicology, the...

Yatkin, E., Kulmala, N., Saukkonen, A. et al. 2021. A real-time health notification system aimed at enhancing the interaction between animal care staff and researchers promotes animal welfare. Laboratory Animals 55(3), 281-289.

Regardless of the microbiological status of an animal facility, research animals may experience health problems, leading to pain, suffering and distress. Simple and efficient tools are needed to collect data systematically, allowing researchers to react...

Jewell, D., Muensch, A., Kupronis, R. et al. 2021. Husbandry techniques for a research colony of veiled chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus). Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(4) (July/August), 52-55.

Although most chameleon species can be challenging captives, C. calyptratus have been successfully kept and bred in captivity for over thirty years. Despite their relative familiarity, our challenge is to replicate their preferred habitats in...

Benato, L., Murrell, J., Knowles, T. G. et al. 2021. Development of the Bristol Rabbit Pain Scale (BRPS): A multidimensional composite pain scale specific to rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). PLOS ONE 16(6), e0252417.

A species-specific composite pain scale is a prerequisite for adequate pain assessment. The aim of this study was to develop a multidimensional pain scale specific to rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) called the Bristol Rabbit Pain Scale...

Zieglowski, L., Kümmecke, A. M., Ernst, L. et al. 2021. Assessing the severity of laparotomy and partial hepatectomy in male rats—A multimodal approach. PLOS ONE 16(8), e0255175.

This study assessed the postoperative severity after three different visceral surgical interventions in rats by using objective parameters pertaining to various disciplines. The objective was to evaluate whether the degree of severity increases with the...

Ferguson, K., Fisher, Z. 2021. The effects of bedding material on the treatment of mild pododermatitis in the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus). RATEL (Journal of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers) 48(1), 18-22.

One of our colony’s five guinea pigs started to develop a moderate case of pododermatitis (bumblefoot) on one paw, which staff were keen to alleviate to prevent any detrimental effects that this might have on...

Silva, A. V., Norinder, U., Liiv, E. et al. 2021. Associations between clinical signs and pathological findings in toxicity testing. ALTEX 38(2), 198-214.

Animal testing for toxicity assessment of chemicals and pharmaceuticals must take the 3R principles into consideration. During toxicity testing in vivo, clinical signs are used to monitor animal welfare and to inform about potential toxicity...

Burn, C. C., Popat, R. 2021. A tunnel is not enough: Mice benefit from in-cage provision of a communal shelter as well as a handling tunnel. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(3), 203-210.

Mouse shelters can provide mice with security, help them thermoregulate, offer darkness to prevent damage to their eyes and enable climbing and gnawing opportunities. For laboratory mice, there is a vast array of commercially available...

Dickinson, A. 2021. Maximising efficacy of your health monitoring programme. Animal Technology and Welfare 20(3), 255-257.

There are a multitude of health monitoring techniques/ methods available. It can be difficult to know which of these to use and when to use them. This is an attempt to simplify, maximise the efficacy...

Kimm, S., Rauterberg, S. L., Bill, J. et al. 2021. Use of space, active and resting behaviour in fattening rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) housed in a combi park system: A case study. Animal Welfare 30(4), 493-506.

In this case study, a housing system for rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was developed, complying with the new German Welfare Regulation, and evaluated on-farm with regard to the rabbits' behaviour during four fattening periods. The housing...

Xie, W., Kordt, M., Palme, R. et al. 2021. Diagnostic ability of methods depicting distress of tumor-bearing mice. Animals 11(8), 2155.

Subcutaneous tumor models in mice are the most commonly used experimental animal models in cancer research. To improve animal welfare and the quality of scientific studies, the distress of experimental animals needs to be minimized...

Glaeser, S. S., Shepherdson, D., Lewis, K. et al. 2021. Supporting zoo Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) welfare and herd dynamics with a more complex and expanded habitat. Animals 11(9), 2566.

Ensuring good health and welfare is an increasingly important consideration for conservation of endangered species, whether free-ranging or managed to varying degrees under human care. The welfare-based design of a new habitat for Asian elephants...

Travain, T., Valsecchi, P. 2021. Infrared thermography in the study of animals’ emotional responses: A critical review. Animals 11(9), 2510.

Whether animals have emotions was historically a long-lasting question but, today, nobody disputes that they do. However, how to assess them and how to guarantee animals their welfare have become important research topics in the...

Wang, G., Muhammad, A., Liu, C. et al. 2021. Automatic recognition of fish behavior with a fusion of RGB and optical flow data based on deep learning. Animals 11(10), 2774.

The rapid and precise recognition of fish behavior is critical in perceiving health and welfare by allowing farmers to make informed management decisions on recirculating aquaculture systems while reducing labor. The conventional recognition methods are...

Mieske, P., Diederich, K., Lewejohann, L. 2021. Roaming in a land of milk and honey: Life trajectories and metabolic rate of female inbred mice living in a semi naturalistic environment. Animals 11(10), 3002.

Despite tremendous efforts at standardization, the results of scientific studies can vary greatly, especially when considering animal research. It is important to emphasize that consistent different personality-like traits emerge and accumulate over time in laboratory...

Lawrence, K., Sherwen, S. L., Larsen, H. 2021. Natural habitat design for zoo-housed elasmobranch and teleost fish species improves behavioural repertoire and space use in a visitor facing exhibit. Animals 11(10), 2979.

This study investigated the behaviour of two Elasmobranch species; Southern fiddler ray (Trygonorrhina dumerilii, n = 1) and Port Jackson shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni, n = 4) and two teleost species; moonlighter (Tilodon sexfasciatus, n =...

Prior, H., Blunt, H., Crossman, L. et al. 2021. Refining procedures within regulatory toxicology studies: Improving animal welfare and data. Animals 11(11), 3057.

During the development of potential new medicines or agrochemicals, an assessment of the safety profile to humans and environmental species is conducted using a range of different in silico and in vitro techniques in conjunction...

Diana, A., Salas, M., Pereboom, Z. et al. 2021. A systematic review of the use of technology to monitor welfare in zoo animals: Is there space for improvement? Animals 11(11), 3048.

A top priority of modern zoos is to ensure good animal welfare (AW), thus, efforts towards improving AW monitoring are increasing. Welfare assessments are performed through more traditional approaches by employing direct observations and time-consuming...

Mondin, C., Trestini, S., Trocino, A. et al. 2021. The economics of rabbit farming: A pilot study on the impact of different housing systems. Animals 11(11), 3040.

This research evaluates the economic sustainability of rabbit farms using different housing systems—bicellular (BI), conventional dual-purpose (DP) and enriched cages designed according to the World Rabbit Science Association guidelines (WRSA)—through a field-based study involving six...

Fusco, A., Douglas, H., Barba, A. et al. 2021. V-Gel® guided endotracheal intubation in rabbits. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 684624.

Background: General anesthesia in rabbits is associated with higher morbidity and mortality relative to other mammalian species commonly anesthetized. Unique challenges related to endotracheal intubation (ETI) in rabbits contribute to this risk. Objective: To improve...