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. 
Rault, J.-L. 2019. Be kind to others: Prosocial behaviours and their implications for animal welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 210, 113-123.

Social interactions are central to the health and psychological well-being of domestic animals. Until now, research has overwhelmingly focused on negative social behaviours such as aggression or the lack of social interactions such as social...

Howell, C. P., Cheyne, S. M. 2019. Complexities of using wild versus captive activity budget comparisons for assessing captive primate welfare. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 22(1), 78-96.

Activity budget comparisons between groups or individuals in the wild and those in captivity are commonly used to determine the range of wild-type behaviors that nonhuman animals in captivity perform. These comparisons are conducted with...

Sterck, E. H. M., Zijlmans, D. G. M., de Vries, H., et al. 2019. Determining overweight and underweight with a new weight‐for‐height index in captive group‐housed macaques. American Journal of Primatology 81(6), e22996.

Housing primates in naturalistic groups provides social benefits relative to solitary housing. However, food intake may vary across individuals, possibly resulting in overweight and underweight individuals. Information on relative adiposity (the amount of fat tissue...

Ormandy, E. H., Weary, D. M., Cvek, K. et al. 2019. Animal research, accountability, openness and public engagement: Report from an international expert forum. Animals 9(9), 622.

In November 2013, a group of international experts in animal research policy (n = 11) gathered in Vancouver, Canada, to discuss openness and accountability in animal research. The primary objective was to bring together participants...

Watters, J. V., Krebs, B. L. 2019. Assessing and enhancing the welfare of animals with equivocal and reliable cues. Animals 9(9), 680.

The actions of human caretakers strongly influence animals living under human care. Here, we consider how intentional and unintentional signals provided by caretakers can inform our assessment of animals' well-being as well as help to...

Hubrecht, R. C., Carter, E. 2019. The 3Rs and humane experimental technique: Implementing change. Animals 9(10), 754.

In 1959, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) Scholars Russell & Burch published the Principles of Humane Experimental Technique in which they laid out the principles of the Three Rs. However, the Three Rs...

Lawrence, A. B., Vigors, B., Sandøe, P. 2019. What is so positive about positive animal welfare?—A critical review of the literature. Animals 9(10), 783.

It is claimed that positive animal welfare (PAW) developed over the last decade in reaction to animal welfare focusing too much on avoiding negatives. However, it remains unclear what PAW adds to the animal welfare...

Raillard, M., Detotto, C., Grepper, S. et al. 2019. Anaesthetic and perioperative management of 14 male New Zealand white rabbits for calvarial bone surgery. Animals 9(11), 896.

Calvarial bone surgery on rabbits is frequently performed. This report aims to document a simple and practical anaesthetic and perioperative management for this procedure. Fourteen male New Zealand white rabbits were included in the study...

Hawkins, P., Bertelsen, T. 2019. 3Rs-related and objective indicators to help assess the culture of care. Animals 9(11), 969.

Within animal research and testing, the need for an effective Culture of Care is widely recognized and described in terms of an establishment-wide commitment to improving the implementation of the 3Rs, animal welfare, scientific quality...

McLennan, K. M., Miller, A. L., Dalla Costa, E. et al. 2019. Conceptual and methodological issues relating to pain assessment in mammals: The development and utilisation of pain facial expression scales. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 217, 1-15.

Effective management of pain is critical to the improvement of animal welfare. For this to happen, pain must be recognised and assessed in a variety of contexts. Pain is a complex phenomenon, making reliable, valid...

Engel, R. M., Thomas III, M. L., Banks, R. E. 2019. Regional anesthesia for dentistry and orofacial surgery in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). JAALAS 58(2), 223-230.

Regional anesthesia is a commonly used adjunct to orofacial dental and surgical procedures in companion animals and humans. However, appropriate techniques for anesthetizing branches of the mandibular and maxillary nerves have not been described for...

Lee, L. Y., Lee, D., Ryu, H. et al. 2019. Capnography-guided endotracheal intubation as an alternative to existing intubation methods in rabbits. JAALAS 58(2), 240-245.

Rabbits provide a unique challenge for routine endotracheal intubation in clinical practice because of various distinctive anatomic and physiologic features. Many previously proposed methods for endotracheal intubation in rabbits are limited by several factors, including...

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...

Davis, J. N., Greer, W., Banks, R. E. et al. 2019. Postapproval monitoring practices at biomedical research facilities. JAALAS 58(4), 469-474.

Federal regulations and policies require institutions to establish procedures for ongoing IACUC oversight of approved animal care and use program activities including animal procedures. To fulfill these requirements, research institutions implement postapproval monitoring (PAM) programs...

Balansard, I., Cleverley, L., Cutler, K. L. et al. 2019. Revised recommendations for health monitoring of non-human primate colonies (2018): FELASA Working Group Report. Laboratory Animals 53(5), 429–446.

The genetic and biological similarity between non-human primates and humans has ensured the continued use of primates in biomedical research where other species cannot be used. Health-monitoring programmes for non-human primates provide an approach to...

Heyworth, C. 2019. Inventive enrichment to facilitate weight gain in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) during invasive studies. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 7(4) (December), 38-41.

To provide the highest standard of care to marmosets during invasive surgical studies, studies that often lead to weight loss, it is paramount to call upon inherent species-specific enrichment tactics to mitigate weight loss. Weight...

Ermatinger, F. A., Brügger, R. K., Burkart, J. M. 2019. The use of infrared thermography to investigate emotions in common marmosets. Physiology & Behavior 211, 112672.

Measuring body surface temperature changes with infrared thermography has recently been put forward as a non-invasive alternative measure of physiological correlates of emotional reactions. In particular, the nasal region seems to be highly sensitive to...

Broche Jr., N., Takeshita, R. S. C., Mouri, K. et al. 2019. Salivary alpha-amylase enzyme is a non-invasive biomarker of acute stress in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). Primates volume 60(6), 547–558.

Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) enzyme functions as a digestive enzyme in many species that consume starch in their diet. Human studies have also revealed that sAA enzyme activity levels are positively correlated with the release of...

Poirier, C., Oliver, C. J., Castellano Bueno, J. et al. 2019. Pacing behaviour in laboratory macaques is an unreliable indicator of acute stress. Scientific Reports 9, 7476.

Pacing behaviour, the most frequent stereotypic behaviour displayed by laboratory rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) is often used as an indicator of stress. In this study, we investigated how reliable this welfare indicator is at detecting...

Egelkamp, C. L., Ross, S. R. 2019. A review of zoo-based cognitive research using touchscreen interfaces. Zoo Biology 38(2), 220-235.

In the past few decades, there has been an increase in the number of zoo-based touchscreen studies of animal cognition around the world. Such studies have contributed to the field of comparative cognition despite the...

Broom, D. M., Johnson, K. G. 2019. Stress and Animal Welfare: Key Issues in the Biology of Humans and Other Animals (2nd ed). Springer, Berlin, Germany.

This is the Second Edition of a well-received book that reflects a fresh, integrated coverage of the concepts and scientific measurement of stress and welfare of animals including humans. This book explains the basic biological...

Hankenson, F. C., Hallman, T. 2019. Investigator engagement: Somewhat radical considerations on practices to improve animal care program compliance. ILAR Journal 60(1), 58–65.

The authors discuss approaches to bolster investigator engagement, inviting investigators to be partners within the Animal Care Program. Regulatory burden in animal research endeavors continues to be reviewed and critiqued; therefore, this article intends to...

Mohan, S., Huneke, R. 2019. The role of IACUCs in responsible animal research. ILAR Journal 60(1), 43-49.

Primary oversight responsibilities of an institution’s animal program rests with its IACUC, which supports the balance of good science practices with good animal welfare. The IACUC, along with husbandry care staff, veterinarians, and research personnel...

Gill, M. 2019. The Monkey Business and the UK: To what extent does EU and UK legislation protect long-tailed macaques bred in overseas farms but used for experiments in the UK. Canopy 20(1), 29-34.

Every year around 3,000 long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) are imported into the UK to satisfy the needs of pharmaceutical contract research organisations (CROs). CITES, and many NGOs suggest that the demand for macaques used globally...

Colby, L. A., Nowland, M. H., Kennedy, L. H. 2019. Clinical Laboratory Animal Medicine: An Introduction (5th ed). Wiley-Blackwell, Ames, IA.

The revised fifth edition of Clinical Laboratory Animal Medicine: An Introduction is an accessible guide to basic information for conducting animal research safely and responsibly. It includes a review of the unique anatomic and physiologic...