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. 
Winnicker, C. 2013. Challenges and opportunities of implementing EU standards for social housing of rodents. Enrichment Record 15, 3-4.

The EU Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes specifically states: Animals, except those which are naturally solitary, shall be socially housed in stable groups of compatible individuals. Even in cases where...

Hrapkiewicz, K., Colby, L. A., Denison, P. 2013. Clinical Laboratory Animal Medicine: An Introduction (4th Ed). Wiley-Blackwell, Ames, IA.

Clinical Laboratory Animal Medicine: An Introduction, Fourth Edition offers a user-friendly guide to the unique anatomy and physiology, care, common diseases, and treatment of small mammals and nonhuman primates. Carefully designed for ease of use...

David, J. M., Knowles, S., Lamkin, D. M. et al. 2013. Individually ventilated cages impose cold stress on laboratory mice: A source of systemic experimental variability. JAALAS 52(6), 738-744.

Individual ventilated cages (IVC) are increasing in popularity. Although mice avoid IVC in preference testing, they show no aversion when provided additional nesting material or the cage is not ventilated. Given the high ventilation rate...

David, J. M., Stout, D. 2013. Individually ventilated cages impose cold-stress on laboratory mice: A source of systemic experimental variability. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 610 (Abstract #PS10).

Individual ventilated cages (IVC) have recently been increasing in popularity. Based on the high rates of ventilation with IVCs, we developed 3 hypotheses: first, mice housed in IVCs experience significantly more cold-stress than mice housed...

Baumans, V., Bennett, K., Donnelly, M. et al. 2013. The problem with the dark bottom-row cage for non-human primates: A discussion by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology and Welfare 12, 111-114.

Since there is evidence that the bottom cages can impact research, this should be a good reason to eliminate the two-tier system with its species-inappropriate bottom-tier cages.

Fuss, J., Richter, S. H., Steinle, J. et al. 2013. Are you real? Visual stimulation of social housing by mirror image stimulation in single housed mice. Behavioural Brain Research 243, 191-198.

Individual housing of social species is a common phenomenon in laboratory animal facilities. Single housing, however, is known to inflict social deprivation with a number of detrimental consequences. Aiming to improve housing conditions of single...

Lutz, C. K., Linsenbardt, K. A., Williams, P. C. et al. 2012. Abnormal behavior in captive baboons (Papio hahadryas sp.) American Journal of Primatology 74(S1), 36. (35th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #37)

Abnormal behavior in macaque monkeys has been associated with risk factors such as nursery rearing and single housing. However, less is known about the extent of, and risk factors for, abnormal behavior in baboons. The...

Camacho, J. N., Boskovic, S., Moeller, E. 2012. Improved nonhuman primate social housing using visual cues associated for an intensive research study. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 636-637 (Abstract #PS35).

Lean management-based visual tools have been used to improve the quality of animal care associated with a complex research study involving immune-compromised cynomolgus monkeys (M. fascicularis) in various postsurgical recovery states. In order to effectively...

Baker, K. C. 2012. Implementation of pair housing for laboratory primates. American Journal of Primatology 74(S1), 31. (35th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #20)

There is a general consensus among those studying the welfare of captive primates that social housing is the most effective means for promoting psychological well-being. It is well established that socially-housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)...

Gudsnuk, K., Champagne, F. A. 2012. Epigenetic influence of stress and social environment. ILAR Journal 53(3-4), 279-288.

Animal models of early-life stress and variation in social experience across the lifespan have contributed significantly to our understanding of the environmental regulation of the developing brain. Plasticity in neurobiological pathways regulating stress responsivity, cognition...

Parker, M. O., Millington, M. E., Combe, F. J. et al. 2012. Housing conditions differentially affect physiological and behavioural stress responses of zebrafish, as well as the response to anxiolytics. PLOS ONE 7(4), e34992.

Zebrafish are a widely utilised animal model in developmental genetics, and owing to recent advances in our understanding of zebrafish behaviour, their utility as a comparative model in behavioural neuroscience is beginning to be realised...

Schapiro, S. J., Bernacky, B. J. 2011. Socialization strategies and disease transmission in captive colonies of nonhuman primates. American Journal of Primatology 74(6), 518-527.

In captive research environments for nonhuman primates (NHP), social housing strategies are often in conflict with protocols designed to minimize disease transmission. This is particularly true in breeding colonies, and is especially relevant when attempting...

Veillette, M., Reebs, S. G. 2011. Shelter choice by Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) in the laboratory. Animal Welfare 20(4), 603-611.

The preference of Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) for different in-cage shelters was tested. First, 15 males and 15 females were made to choose between a cage with a shelter and one without. Different shelters were...

Scales, M., McDonald, K. M. 2011. Factors influencing the preferred nesting location of laboratory mice. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 773 (Abstract #P128).

Understanding the preferred nesting location of laboratory mice within the cage may serve as a useful, objective, behavioral assessment tool. To determine if caging ventilation rates influenced nesting location, we observed nesting site (front, middle...

Pasalic, I., Bosnjak, B., Ivetic Tkalcevic, V. et al. 2011. Cage enrichment with paper tissue, but not plastic tunnels, increases variability in mouse model of asthma. Laboratory Animals 45(2), 121-123.

Environmental enrichment, besides having a great impact on animal welfare, can also be a potential variable in experimental research. Thus, we investigated whether enrichment of cages with paper tissues or plastic tunnels affects scientific outcome...

Neves, S. 2011. Effects of environmental enrichment on the production of C57BL/6 mice kept in different housing systems. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 788 (Abstract #P201).

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...

Nam-Mi Gross, A., Engela, A. K. J., Würbel, H. 2011. Simply a nest? Effects of different enrichments on stereotypic and anxiety-related behaviour in mice. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 134(3-4), 239-245 .

Improving the home cages of laboratory mice by environmental enrichment has been widely used to reduce cage stereotypies and anxiety-related behaviour in behavioural tests. However, enrichment studies differ substantially in type, complexity and variation of...

Gaskill, B., Winnicker, C. L., Garner, J. P. et al. 2011. The naked truth: Breeding performance in outbred and inbred strains of nude mice with and without nesting material. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 741 (Abstract #PS95).

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...

Gaskill, B., Garner, J. P., Pritchett-Corning, K. 2011. Energy reallocation to breeding performance through improved behavioral thermoregulation. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 771 (Abstract #P120).

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...

Breegi, S. 2011. Evaluation of nesting materials for use in nude mouse colonies. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 782 (Abstract #P171).

Nesting material has been reported to be beneficial to mice by providing environmental enrichment as well as a means of thermoregulation. Cotton nesting material has been reported to cause conjunctivitis in athymic nude mice. We...

Gaskill, B. N., Rohr, S., Lucas, J. R. et al. 2011. Working with what you've got: Changes in thermal preference and behavior in mice with or without nest material. Journal of Thermal Biology. 36(3), 193-199.

In laboratories mice are typically housed at ambient temperatures (Ta) of 20–24 °C, which are below their average preferred Ta of ≈30 °C. Adjusting laboratory Ta is not a solution because preferences differ depending on...

Kistler, C., Hegglin, D., Würbel, H. et al. 2011. Preference for structured environment in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and checker bards (Puntius oligolepis). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 135(4), 318-327.

Information about the welfare and husbandry of pet and laboratory fish is scarce although millions of fish are sold in pet shops and used in laboratory research every year. Inadequate housing conditions can cause behavioural...

Swetter, B. J., Karpiak, C. P., Cannon, J. T. 2011. Separating the effects of shelter from additional cage enhancements for group-housed BALB/cJ mice. Neuroscience Letters 495(3), 205-209.

Enrichment studies with rodents have demonstrated that cage enhancements can improve animal welfare and performance on common behavioral measures, but few studies have compared more than one type of enrichment or controlled for confounds, and...

Spence, R., Magurran, A. E., Smith, C. 2011. Spatial cognition in zebrafish: The role of strain and rearing environment. Animal Cognition 14(4), 607–612.

Two strains of zebrafish, WIK and a second-generation wild strain were reared in either a structurally simple or complex environment and compared in their ability to locate a food reward in a five-chambered maze. There...

Baran, S. W., Froberg-Fejko, K., Lecker, J. et al. 2010. Post-surgical environmental enrichment in rodents. Enrichment Record 3, 4-6.

Environmental enrichment is a key component of rodent animal welfare since it influences the animal’s overall well-being, provides opportunities for activity, and encourages rodent appropriate behaviors. Many aspects of rodent enrichment have received a significant...