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. 
van Zeeland, Y. R. A., Schoemaker, N. J., Lumeij, J. T. 2023. Contrafreeloading indicating the behavioural need to forage in healthy and feather damaging Grey parrots. Animals 13(16), 2635.

Contrafreeloading (CFL) is a concept that describes the preference of an animal to work for food even when identical food is freely available, and reflects an intrinsic motivation to engage in foraging-related activities. However, altered...

Wood, H., Voros, G. B. 2023. Increasing the psychological wellbeing of zebrafish (Danio rerio) and African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) at the Cleveland Clinic. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 11(6) (November/December), 38-40.

With the increased use of aquatic animals in research, especially zebrafish and African clawed frogs, there has been an increased interest in how to best address their psychological wellbeing. In this article, we have shown...

Brake, M. E., Russ, B. P., Gansebom, S. et al. 2023. Effects of extended-release buprenorphine on mouse models of influenza. Comparative Medicine 73(6), 466–473.

Mice are widely used as small animal models for influenza infection and immunization studies because of their susceptibility to many strains of influenza, obvious clinical signs of infection, and ease of handling. Analgesia is rarely...

Caires, C. R. S., Bossolani-Martins, A. L. 2023. Which form of environmental enrichment is most effective in rodent models of autism? Behavioural Processes 211, 104915.

Environmental enrichment (EE) is known to produce experience-dependent changes in the brains and behaviors of rodents, and it has therefore been widely used to study neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Current studies show significant protocol variation...

Camson, C. T., Palillo, J. A., Fehrenbach, L. A. et al. 2023. Evaluation of disinfection methods for artificial plants in zebrafish (Danio rerio) recirculating water systems. JAALAS 62(6), 512–517.

The use of artificial plants as environmental enrichment for zebrafish (Danio rerio) in biomedical research facilities has been shown to provide benefits in animal welfare and care. Despite the benefits of artificial plants to zebrafish...

Gallas-Lopes, M., Benvenutti, R., Donzelli, N. I. Z. et al. 2023. A systematic review of the impact of environmental enrichment in zebrafish. Lab Animal 52(12), 332-343.

Environmental enrichment (EE) consists of a series of interventions carried out in the home environment to promote greater exposure to sensory stimuli and mimic the natural habitat of laboratory-housed animals, providing environments closer to those...

Lavery, J. M., Mason, G. J. 2023. Mirror, mirror on the wall… How tank material and the presence of “enrichments” affect competition and agonism in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 266, 106005.

Despite generations of rearing in a laboratory environment, zebrafish (Danio rerio) retain innate preferences for environmental features that mimic their natural habitat (e.g. plants and gravel), but the effects of such preferred housing conditions on...

Lopez-Echeverria, G., Alamaw, E., Gorman, G. et al. 2023. Comparing three formulations of buprenorphine in an incisional pain model in mice. JAALAS 62(6), 531–537.

This study compared the therapeutic effects in mice of 3 different formulations of buprenorphine. These formulations were standard buprenorphine hydrochloride (Bup-HCL) and 2 different extended-release buprenorphine formulations (Bup-ER and Ethiqa-XR [Bup-XR]). Drugs were evaluated based...

McKenna, B. A., Weaver, H. L., Kim, J. et al. 2023. A pharmacokinetic and analgesic efficacy study of carprofen in female CD1 mice. JAALAS 62(6), 545–552.

The minimization of pain in research animals is a scientific and ethical necessity. Carprofen is commonly used for pain management in mice; however, some data suggest that the standard dosage of 5 mg/kg may not...

Radical, A., Normando, S., Ponzio, P. et al. 2023. The effects of the addition of two environmental enrichments on the behavior and fecal cortisol levels of three small felids species (Caracal caracal, Leptailurus serval, Leopardus pardalis) in captivity. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 60, 56–64.

Scientific evidences support the fact that environmental enrichment, when effective, can affect the behavior of animals in captivity in a way suggestive of an improvement in their quality of life. In the internationally published literature...

Xu, L., Jiao, M., Cui, Z.-L. et al. 2023. Enriched environment during adolescence modulates lipid metabolism and emotion-related behaviors in mice. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 26(2), 218–228.

Enriched environment (EE) is an important animal experimental paradigm to decipher gene-environment interaction. It is thought to be efficient in aiding recovery from certain metabolism disorders or cognitive impairments. Recently, the effects of EE during...

Illario, J. A., Osborn, K. G., Garcia, A. V. et al. 2023. Comparative pharmacokinetics and injection site histopathology in nude mice treated with long-acting buprenorphine formulations. JAALAS 62(2), 147–152.

Two long-acting formulations of buprenorphine are commercially available as analgesics for rodents. However, these drugs have not yet been studied in nude mice. We sought to investigate whether the manufacturer-recommended or labeled mouse doses of...

Kim, J., Cannon, B. A., Freeman, L. E. et al. 2023. High-dose meloxicam provides improved analgesia in female CD1 mice: A pharmacokinetic and efficacy study. JAALAS 62(1), 74–80.

Meloxicam is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic drug that is often used in mice. However, doses of 1 to 5 mg/kg given twice daily were recently reported to provide inadequate analgesia. Some studies suggest that doses...

LaFollette, M. R., Cloutier, S., Brady, C. M. et al. 2023. Benchmarking enrichment efforts in the US & Canada across species and enrichment categories. JAALAS 62(4), 303–316.

Enrichment is important for animal welfare and data quality. Provision of enrichment opportunities varies between species and enrichment category. However, data benchmarking these differences does not exist. Our objective was to characterize enrichment provision and...

Riddell, D. L., Hyndman, T. H., Bowden, R. S. et al. 2023. Use of a low-calorie flavored gel to facilitate oral self-administration of analgesics in mice. JAALAS 62(2), 163–169.

The goals of this study were to determine whether mice would adapt to a low-calorie flavored water gel as their sole source of hydration and whether the addition of acetaminophen, tramadol, meloxicam, or buprenorphine to...

Yang, P., Hish, G., Lester, P. A. 2023. Comparison of systemic extended-release buprenorphine and local extended-release bupivacaine-meloxicam as analgesics for laparotomy in mice. JAALAS 62(5), 416–422.

Extended-release (ER) local anesthetics can be used in multi-modal analgesia or in situations in which systemic analgesics may alter animal physiology and thus introduce interpretational confounds. In this study, we compared the analgesic efficacy of...

Brereton, J., Rose, P. 2022. An evaluation of the role of 'biological evidence' in zoo and aquarium enrichment practices. Animal Welfare 31(1), 13-26.

Evidence-based approaches are key to advancing all areas of zoo and aquarium practice. Output from empirical study must be disseminated to those within the industry so that results can support changes to husbandry and management...

Escobedo-Bonilla, C. M., Quiros-Rojas, N. M., Rudín-Salazar, E. 2022. Rehabilitation of marine turtles and welfare improvement by application of environmental enrichment strategies. Animals 12(3), 282.

Sea turtles perform various ecological services in several marine environments and are considered architects of the marine landscape. At present, they are endangered species due to anthropogenic threats, pollution and degradation of marine habitats. These...

Ratuski, A. S., Weary, D. M. 2022. Environmental enrichment for rats and mice housed in laboratories: A metareview. Animals 12(4), 414.

Environmental enrichment has been widely studied in rodents, but there is no consensus on what enrichment should look like or what it should achieve. Inconsistent use of the term “enrichment” creates challenges in drawing conclusions...

Tuite, E. K., Moss, S. A., Phillips, C. J. et al. 2022. Why are enrichment practices in zoos difficult to implement effectively? Animals 12(5), 554.

The good intentions of zoos to introduce enrichment practices that stimulate animals mentally and physically are not always achievable. Changes to the policies and procedures in organisations are difficult to fulfil for a range of...

Serinelli, I., Soloperto, S., Lai, O. R. 2022. Pain and pain management in sea turtle and herpetological medicine: State of the art. Animals 12(6), 697.

In sea turtle rescue and rehabilitative medicine, many of the casualties suffer from occurrences that would be considered painful in other species; therefore, the use of analgesic drugs should be ethically mandatory to manage the...

Diggins, R., Burrie, R., Ariel, E. et al. 2022. A review of welfare indicators for sea turtles undergoing rehabilitation, with emphasis on environmental enrichment. Animal Welfare 31(2), 219-230.

For animals undergoing rehabilitation it is vital to monitor welfare in a way that is feasible, practical, and limits stress to the animal. The industry gold standard is to assess welfare under the Five Domains...

Gatto, E., Bruzzone, M., Dal Maschio, M. et al. 2022. Effects of environmental enrichment on recognition memory in zebrafish larvae. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 247, 105552.

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) constitute a useful model for studying memory function and impairment in vertebrates and are now widely used in translational research. On the one hand, the adoption of simple, fast and reliable tests...

Lane, S., Williams, W., Mayo, M. 2022. The impact of environmental enrichment on red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys elegans). Laboratory Animal Science Professional 10(3) (May/June), 18-20.

This study aimed to determine whether tank enrichment improved positive species-specific behaviors (those that benefit the animals' overall well-being), such as basking, and/or decreased negative behaviors (those that may indicate stress, agitation, or discomfort), such...

Hobbiesiefken, U., Mieske, P., Lewejohann, L. et al. 2021. Evaluation of different types of enrichment - their usage and effect on home cage behavior in female mice. PLOS ONE 16(12), e0261876.

Numerous studies ascertained positive effects of enriched environments on the well-being of laboratory animals including behavioral, physiological and neurochemical parameters. Conversely, such conclusions imply impaired animal welfare and health in barren husbandry conditions. Moreover, inappropriate...