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. 
Ausderau, K. K., Colman, R. J., Kabakov, S. et al. 2023. Evaluating depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in non-human primates. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16, 1006065.

Depression and anxiety are some of the most prevalent and debilitating mental health conditions in humans. They can present on their own or as co-morbidities with other disorders. Like humans, non-human primates (NHPs) can develop...

Higham, J. P., Cooper, E. B., Whalen, C. et al. 2023. Urinary cytokine measurements do not reflect surgery-induced inflammation in rhesus macaques. American Journal of Primatology 85(8), e23506.

Measurement of the health and disease status of free-ranging primates is often limited by a lack of available biomarkers of immune activation and inflammation that can be applied noninvasively via the measurement of urine or...

Alizadeh, E. A., Graf, K., Schiwon, J. et al. 2023. Thirty years of telemetry-based data acquisition for cardiovascular drug safety evaluation: Applications and optimization. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 122, 107279.

Conducting safety evaluations of new drugs using conscious animals has been a specialty of our working group for thirty years. In this article, we review the various technical challenges and solutions dealt with over the...

Broche, N., Mouri, K., Suzumura, T. et al. 2023. Measuring short-term changes in stress-associated salivary analytes in free-ranging Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). Primates 64(4), 439–449.

Monitoring short-term changes of endocrine responses in non-human primates living in wild populations is a challenge. Saliva contains enzymes, steroids, and various analytes that can be broadly useful for helping us understand physiological responses to...

Hube, D., van Meegen, C., Herbrandt, S. et al. 2023. Hair corticosterone concentration as a potential stress marker in pet rabbits. Veterinary Record 193(9), e3464.

Background As a prey species, rabbits tend to hide their illnesses and injuries. Consequently, pet rabbit owners often do not notice that their pet may be suffering. Methods Data on the housing and health of...

Sharma, S., Khanal, L., Shrestha, S. et al. 2023. Zoo visitors as a source of enrichment to reduce abnormal behavior in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in the Central Zoo, Kathmandu, Nepal. Journal of Animal Behaviour Biometeorology 11(1), e2023005.

Overexpression of abnormal behavior among captive primates indicates poor management practices. The type, frequency, and contributing factors of abnormal behaviors vary highly across individual animals in captive settings. This study explored if sex, rearing history...

Goldsborough, Z., Sterck, E. H. M., de Waal, F. B. M. et al. 2022. Individual variation in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) repertoires of abnormal behaviour. Animal Welfare 31(1), 125-135.

Abnormal behaviour in captive animals is both pervasive and ambiguous. Although individual differences are central to the field of animal welfare, studies on abnormal behaviour predominantly employ quantitative, population-level approaches. For example, whereas previous studies...

Arfuso, F., Acri, G., Piccione, G. et al. 2022. Eye surface infrared thermography usefulness as a noninvasive method of measuring stress response in sheep during shearing: Correlations with serum cortisol and rectal temperature values. Physiology & Behavior 250, 113781.

During shearing, animals’ welfare is adversely affected and acute stress occurs. Once animal perceives a threat, it develops behavioral, autonomic, endocrine or immune responses to maintain homeostasis. This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of...

Lutz, C. K., Coleman, K., Hopper, L.M. et al. 2022. Nonhuman primate abnormal behavior: Etiology, assessment, and treatment. American Journal of Primatology 84(6), e23380.

Across captive settings, nonhuman primates may develop an array of abnormal behaviors including stereotypic and self-injurious behavior. Abnormal behavior can indicate a state of poor welfare, since it is often associated with a suboptimal environment...

Franklin, A. N., Martin, A. L., Perlman, Siti Norsyuhada Kamaluddin et al. 2022. Functional analysis and successful treatment of a captive rhesus macaque’s disruptive behavior. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 25(3), 287-296.

Functional analysis (FA) is a method developed and used by behavior analysts in human clinical settings to identify possible environmental variables that reinforce undesired behavior. FA is increasingly being applied to better understand the behavior...

Böswald, L. F., Matzek, D., Mohr, H. et al. 2022. Morphometrics of Xenopus laevis kept as laboratory animals. Animals 12(21), 2986.

Morphometric data that provide information on body conditions can be used to monitor the health and well-being of animals. In laboratory animals, they can help to evaluate the stress due to experiments or treatments, following...

Kishida, T., Motokawa, Y., Yokoi, R. et al. 2022. Less invasive, simultaneous, and continuous measurements of locomotor activity and body temperature using the nano tag® small accelerometer device in cynomolgus monkeys. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 118, 107224.

Locomotor activity and body temperature evaluations of cynomolgus monkeys are useful to understand the effects of drugs on the central nervous system. Here, we describe a simple, inexpensive, and less invasive evaluation method using the...

Prior, H., Holbrook, M. 2021. Strategies to encourage the adoption of social housing during cardiovascular telemetry recordings in non-rodents. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 108, 106959.

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) is working with industry to promote social housing during cardiovascular telemetry recordings within non-rodent safety pharmacology and toxicology studies. Following surveys...

Novak, M. A. 2021. Self-injurious behavior in rhesus macaques: Issues and challenges. American Journal of Primatology 83(6), e23222.

Some monkeys housed in research facilities develop abnormal behavior ranging from stereotypic to the more serious condition of self-injurious behavior (SIB). We initially sought to understand how and why monkeys engaged in SIB and more...

de la Barrera Cardozo, M., Chiba de Castro, W. A., Aguiar, L. M. 2021. Stress behaviors in captive robust capuchins: Effects of humidity, visitors, management and sex. American Journal of Primatology 83(7), e23265.

Wild robust capuchins (Sapajus spp.) are omnivorous neotropical primates that live in relatively large groups in extensive home and daily ranges with activity budgets dominated by traveling, foraging, and object manipulation, meaning that enclosed spaces...

Sørensen, D., Cloutier, S., Gaskill, B. (Eds.). 2021. Animal-centric Care and Management - Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

The concept of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) has been used as a framework for improving the welfare of laboratory animals for the last half century. By establishing an animal-centric view on housing and...

Chmurska-Gąsowska, M., Sowińska, N., Pałka, S. et al. 2021. Non-invasive measurement of thyroid hormones in domestic rabbits. Animals 11(5), 1194.

Thyroid hormones are essential for metabolism, energy homeostasis and reproduction. Hormones can be measured in various biological source materials: blood, feces, urine, saliva and others. The aim of our study was to verify usefulness of...

Polanco, A., McCowan, B., Niel, L. et al. 2021. Recommendations for abnormal behaviour ethograms in monkey research. Animals 11(5), 1461.

Laboratory monkey ethograms currently include subcategories of abnormal behaviours that are based on superficial morphological similarity. Yet, such ethograms may be misclassifying behaviour, with potential welfare implications as different abnormal behaviours are likely to have...

Spiezio C., Vaglio, S., Vandelle C. et al. 2021. Effects of rearing on the behaviour of zoo-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Folia Primatologica 92(2), 91–102.

Early-life experiences may considerably affect the behavioural patterns of adult primates. Particularly, atypical rearing practices might lead to abnormal behaviours and social-sexual deficiencies in captive, adult non-human primates. We conducted behavioural observations of mother-reared (n...

Yolles, J. N., Lee-Stubbs, R. B. 2021. Comparison of direct and indirect methods of measuring arterial blood pressure in healthy, anesthetized African green monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops). JAALAS 60(2), 229-237.

Quantitative blood pressure measurement is a critical parameter for assessing cardiovascular health, monitoring physiologic status under anesthesia, and making clinical decisions. The placement of an arterial catheter is the most accurate way to measure blood...

Wilson-Welder, J. H., Frank, A. T. 2021. Use of food enrichment for medication delivery in large groups of sheep. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(3) (May/June), 40-43.

In a 2018 AALAS webinar on Sheep and Goat Analgesia, Dr. Susie Vogel, a small ruminant expert, introduced the concept of getting sheep and goats to willingly take medication by putting it in a tasty...

Ross, S. R., Lake, B. R., Fultz, A. et al. 2021. An evaluation of thermal imaging as a welfare monitoring tool for captive chimpanzees. Primates 62(6), 919-927.

Among the growing list of novel tools with which to assess animal welfare is the use of thermal (infrared) imaging. The technology has already been utilized to identify emotional arousal in several nonhuman primate species...

Sutherland, M. A., Worth, G. M., Dowling, S. K. et al. 2020. Evaluation of infrared thermography as a non-invasive method of measuring the autonomic nervous response in sheep. PLOS ONE 15(5): e0233558.

Eye temperature measured using infrared thermography (IRT) can be used as a non-invasive measure of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in cattle. The objective of this study was to evaluate if changes in eye temperature...

Reinhardt, V. (ed.) 2020. It’s Okay to Cry - Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum [LAREF], Volume V. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

This is the 5th volume of selected discussions that took place on the electronic Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum between February 2016 and December 2019. The forum was created in October 2002; it allows...

Cloutier Barbour, C., Danforth, M. D., Murphy, H. et al. 2020. Monitoring great ape heart health through innovative electrocardiogram technology: Training methodologies and welfare implications. Zoo Biology 39(6), 443-447.

Assessing and treating cardiovascular disease (or heart disease) is a growing concern for institutions housing great apes, as it is a major cause of mortality in all four taxa managed in human care. As part...