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. 
Finkemeier, M.-A., Oesterwind, S., Nürnberg, G. et al. 2019. Assessment of personality types in Nigerian dwarf goats (Capra hircus) and cross-context correlations to behavioural and physiological responses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 217, 28-35.

The assessment of personality in farm animals and its relation to other behavioural and physiological traits is of growing scientific and practical interest. Therefore, the aims of the present study were first to assess the...

Galvin, M. 2018. Refinement of tumour passage by optimisation of the tissue disaggregation protocol. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(3), 173-174 (IAT Congress 2018 Platform Presentation Abstract).

Surgical implantation of tumour pieces has been used regularly in the passage of tumour models. This involves an invasive surgical procedure, carried out under anaesthesia; ensuring mice have adequate pain relief and peri-operative care. The...

McMurray, C., Allen, N., Hook, S. et al. 2018. I3S software as a refinement technique to identify individuals within a captive Scyliorhinus canula population. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(3), 204-205 (IAT Congress 2018 Poster Presentation).

Demarking individual animals within a group is often required in research. However, the process of invasive tagging induces stress and if a tag becomes detached it may wound the animal and/or prevent identification. Photo identification...

Filby, E. 2019. Give us a break! Animal Technology and Welfare 18(1), 45-48.

Literature is replete with studies on stressors to laboratory rodents; knowing the impact research and husbandry interventions, such as routine cage changing, have on rodents’ stress levels, physiology and behaviour, we hypothesised that animals recovering...

Stevens, C., Hawkins, P., Lovell-Badge, R. et al. 2019. Report of the 2018 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 81-91.

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Working Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 25 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues and...

Cowley, P. M., Roberts, C. R., Baker, A. J. 2019. Monitoring the health status of mice with bleomycin-induced lung injury by using body condition scoring. Comparative Medicine 69(2), 95–102.

Well-defined, humane endpoints aid in monitoring animal health status during disease development. Body condition scoring (BCS) is a method for assessing health status in mouse studies where wasting and death are potential endpoints. Whether BCS...

Roughan, J. V., Sevenoaks, T. 2019. Welfare and scientific considerations of tattooing and ear tagging for mouse identification. JAALAS 58(2), 142-153.

Ear tagging is perceived as less painful or stressful than tattooing and therefore is generally considered less harmful or costly to welfare. However, ear tags are more difficult to read than tattoos and can fall...

Bartley, K. A., Johnson, C. H. 2019. Human infant pants for postoperative protection during social housing of New Zealand white rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). JAALAS 58(4), 510-516.

Elizabethan collars (E-collars) are commonly used in various species to safeguard healing wounds. However, E-collars inadvertently restrict the expression of normal species-typical behaviors, including coprophagy, self-grooming, and social housing. To maintain social housing in accordance...

Taitt, K. T., Kendall, L. V. 2019. Physiologic stress of ear punch identification compared with restraint only in mice. JAALAS 58(4), 438-442.

Social housing of laboratory rodents is recommended whenever possible to encourage natural behavior and social dynamics. Several identification methods are used to distinguish rodents from one another. One of the most common means of identifying...

Resasco, A., Carranza Martin, A. C., Ayala, M. A. et al. 2019. Non-aversive photographic measurement method for subcutaneous tumours in nude mice. Laboratory Animals 53(4), 352–361.

We have developed a new method for the measurement of subcutaneous tumour volume which consists in taking photographs of mice in their home cages, to refine the standard method of measurement with calipers. We consider...

Jensen, T. L., Kiersgaard, M. K., Mikkelsen, L. F. et al. 2019. Fasting of male mice – Effects of time point of initiation and duration on clinical chemistry parameters and animal welfare. Laboratory Animals 53(6), 587–597.

Fasting of mice is a common procedure, which can affect the outcome of the study as well as animal welfare. In this study, we assess the effects of fasting, fasting duration and fasting initiation time...

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...

Rifkin, R. E., Grzeskowiak, R. M., Mulon, P-Y. et al. 2019. Use of a pressure-sensing walkway system for biometric assessment of gait characteristics in goats. PLOS ONE 14(10), e0223771.

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively assess gait characteristics and weight-bearing forces during ambulation in goats free of lameness using a pressure-sensing walkway as a biometric tool for stride, gait, and force analysis...

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...

Abdelrahman, A., Kumstel, S., Zhang, X. et al. 2019. A novel multi-parametric analysis of non-invasive methods to assess animal distress during chronic pancreatitis. Scientific Reports 9, 14084.

Ethical responsibility, legal requirements and the need to improve the quality of research create a growing interest in the welfare of laboratory animals. Judging the welfare of animals requires readout parameters, which are valid and...

Ritchie, A., Collier, P., Clare, P. et al. 2019. Food for thought: The development of drug loaded diets improve both science and welfare. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(3), 222-224.

In our facility, we use several hormone dependent tumour models with supplementation delivered via slow release subcutaneously implanted pellets, implanted via trochar. For example, breast tumours which rely on 17-β-Estradiol. Administration of E2 supplementation can...

Lambert, C. J., Freshner, B. C., Chung, A. et al. 2018. An automated system for rapid cellular extraction from live zebrafish embryos and larvae: Development and application to genotyping. PLOS ONE 13(3), e0193180.

Zebrafish are a valuable model organism in biomedical research. Their rapid development, ability to model human diseases, utility for testing genetic variants identified from next-generation sequencing, amenity to CRISPR mutagenesis, and potential for therapeutic compound...

Hoffmann, M., Schwertassek, U., Seydel, A. et al. 2018. A refined and translationally relevant model of chronic DSS colitis in BALB/c mice. Laboratory Animals 52(3), 240-252.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic relapsing disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Several mouse models for IBD are available, but the acute dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis model is mostly used for preclinical studies. However...

Naylor, A. J., Desanti, G., Saghir, A. N. et al. 2018. TNFα depleting therapy improves fertility and animal welfare in TNFα-driven transgenic models of polyarthritis when administered in their routine breeding. Laboratory Animals 52(1), 59-68.

Transgenic tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα)-driven models of polyarthritis such as the TNFΔARE mouse have proven to be invaluable in delineating aspects of inflammatory disease pathophysiology in humans. Unfortunately, the onset of joint destruction and...

Doerning, C. M., Burlingame, L. A., Lewis, A. G. et al. 2018. Refinement of perioperative feeding in a mouse model of vertical sleeve gastrectomy. JAALAS 57(3), 295-301.

Provision of liquid enteral nutrition (LEN) during the perioperative period is standard practice for rodents undergoing bariatric surgery, yet these diets are associated with several challenges, including coagulation of the liquid diet within the delivery...

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...

Masilkova, M., Weiss, A., Konečná, M. 2018. How long does it take? Reliable personality assessment based on common behaviour in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Behavioural Processes 157, 59-67.

Individual variation in behaviour has been shown to have important ecological and evolutionary consequences. Research on animal personality has therefore received considerable attention, yet some methodological issues remain unresolved. We tested whether assessing personality by...

Rytlewski, J. D., Childress, P. J., Scofield, D. C. et al. 2018. Cohousing male mice with and without segmental bone defects. Comparative Medicine 68(2), 131–138.

Spaceflight results in bone loss like that associated with osteoporosis or decreased weight-bearing (for example, high-energy trauma such as explosive injuries and automobile accidents). Thus, the unique spaceflight laboratory on the International Space Station presents...

Wolfe, A. M., Rahman, M., McFadden, D. G. et al. 2018. Refinement and successful implementation of a scoring system for myxomatosis in a susceptible rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) model. Comparative Medicine 68(4), 280–285.

Myxoma virus is a member of Leporipoxviridae whose tropism is tightly restricted to lagomorphs. In susceptible Oryctolagus rabbits, the virus causes a highly lethal disease known as myxomatosis, which begins as a localized infection but...

Toth, L. A. 2018. Identifying and implementing endpoints for geriatric mice. Comparative Medicine 68(6), 439–451.

The types of changes in physical appearance and behavior that occur in elderly people similarly develop in elderly animals. Signs and symptoms that might cause concern in younger people or mice may be normal in...