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. 
Gray, H., Thiele, A., Rowe, C. 2019. Using preferred fluids and different reward schedules to motivate rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in cognitive tasks. Laboratory Animals 53(4), 372–382.

Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) used in behavioural neuroscience are often required to complete cognitively complex tasks, for which a high level of motivation is essential. To induce motivation, researchers may implement fluid-restriction protocols, whereby freely...

Cox, R. J., Nol, P., Ellis, C. K. et al. 2019. Research with agricultural animals and wildlife. ILAR Journal 60(1), 66-73.

In fiscal year 2016, agricultural animals such as swine, sheep, goats, and cattle represented 10% of the 820 812 animals used in USDA-regulated research. In addition to traditional agricultural animals, research studies using captive wildlife...

Mazhary, H., Hawkins, P. 2019. Applying the 3Rs: A case study on evidence and perceptions relating to rat cage height in the UK. Animals 9(12), 1104.

This article investigates the barriers to implementing higher caging in animal research establishments in the UK. The use of animals in research and testing in the UK is regulated by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act...

Descovich, K. A., Richmond, S. E., Leach, M. C. et al. 2019. Opportunities for refinement in neuroscience: Indicators of wellness and post-operative pain in laboratory macaques. Alternatives to Animal Experimentation 36(4), 535-554.

Being able to assess pain in nonhuman primates undergoing biomedical procedures is important for preventing and alleviating pain, and for developing better guidelines to minimize the impacts of research on welfare in line with the...

Makowska, I. J., Weary, D. M. 2019. A good life for laboratory rodents? ILAR Journal 60(3), 373-388.

Most would agree that animals in research should be spared “unnecessary” harm, pain, or distress, and there is also growing interest in providing animals with some form of environmental enrichment. But is this the standard...

Mason, S., Premereur, E., Pelekanos, V. et al. 2019. Effective chair training methods for neuroscience research involving rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Journal of Neuroscience Methods 317, 82-93.

Background: Neuroscience research using macaques remains fundamental in our endeavours to understand how the human brain functions. Applying the refinement principle of the 3Rs is essential to optimise the monkeys’ welfare and still produces high...

Skinner, M., Ceuppens, P., White, P. et al. 2019. Social-housing and use of double-decker cages in rat telemetry studies. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 96, 87-94.

Rat telemetry is widely used for biomedical research purposes and is used routinely in early pre-clinical drug development to screen for the potential cardiovascular risk of candidate drugs. Historically, these studies have been conducted in...

Fischer, C. P., Romero, L. M. 2019. Chronic captivity stress in wild animals is highly species-specific. Conservation Physiology 7(1), coz093.

Wild animals are brought into captivity for many reasons—conservation, research, agriculture and the exotic pet trade. While the physical needs of animals are met in captivity, the conditions of confinement and exposure to humans can...

Harikrishnan, V. S., Hansen, A. K., Abelson, K. S. P. et al. 2018. A comparison of various methods of blood sampling in mice and rats: Effects on animal welfare. Laboratory Animals 52(3), 253-264.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of blood sampling on animal welfare in a total of 60 NTac:SD rats and 72 C57BL/6NTac mice of both sexes. Blood was sampled either by sublingual vein...

Lutz, C. K., Brown, T. A. 2018. Porches as enrichment for singly housed cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis). JAALAS 57(2), 138-142.

Effective environmental enrichment is used by animals, promotes species-typical behavior, and decreases abnormal behavior. Porches attached to the front of an animal's cage provide additional space, perching opportunities, and a better view of the surroundings...

Hoffman, J. F., Fan, A. X., Neuendorf, E. H. et al. 2018. Hydrophobic sand versus metabolic cages: A comparison of urine collection methods for rats (Rattus norvegicus). JAALAS 57(1), 51-57.

A common method for urine collection from rats requires the use of a metabolic cage, thus exposing animals to extended periods of isolation in an unfamiliar cage with a wire-mesh floor. A new method involving...

Hawkins, P., McBride, A., Paiba, G. et al. 2018. Report of the 2017 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(2), 75-83. [Meeting Report]

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Welfare Group held a one-day meeting on 14 November 2017 in Weybridge, UK. The first session addressed meeting animals' needs and aiming for a 'good life', with the needs...

Read, H., Perry, R. 2018. A refinement to Schedule 1. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(2), 117-120.

There are varying methods used for animal restraint and angle of injection. It remains unclear whether one method is more accurate than others. The primary objectives were to examine whether inverted restraint of rats resulted...

Pearson, K., Gant, J. 2018. Improving rabbit enrichment: Developing a rolling enrichment plan. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(2), 121-123.

A three-week enrichment preference study trialling different substrates, food and pen structures was carried out in three, group-housed female New Zealand White Rabbits (NZW). Preference results: structural - rabbits spent the most time with a...

Clarke, D., Ioannou, L. 2018. Introduction of gang caging for group housed rats. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(2), 136-137.

Using an existing gang cage designed for ferrets, we developed a version that would be suitable for housing rats. Caging consisted of 3 floors with a combined floor area of 11620m, connected by 2 ladders...

van Wijk, H., Crossman, L., Adjin-Tettey, G. et al. 2018. Advances in animal welfare and scientific outcomes of the bile duct cannulated rat model utilised in ADME studies. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(1), 64-67.

Since rats lack a gall bladder, they are an ideal model for investigating continuous biliary excretion and biotransformation. The design and implementation of a modified tail cuff and cannula system introduced at Covance permits the...

Gottlieb, D. H., Del Rosso, L, Sheikhi, F. et al. 2018. Personality, environmental stressors, and diarrhea in Rhesus macaques: An interactionist perspective. American Journal of Primatology 80(12), e22908.

Previous research has repeatedly shown both personality and psychological stress to predict gastrointestinal disorders and chronic diarrhea in humans. The goal of the present research was to evaluate the role of personality, as well as...

Linden, J.B., Capitanio, J.P., McCowan, B. et al. 2018. Coping style and cortisol levels in infancy predict hair cortisol following new group formation in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). American Journal of Primatology 80(12), e22938.

Social instability in primate groups has been used as a model to understand how social stress affects human populations. While it is well established that individual cercopithecines have different temperaments or personalities, little is known...

Franklin, A. N., Martin, A. L., Brennan, C. R. et al. 2018. A comparison of desensitization techniques to train rhesus macaques to take food from a human. American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 13 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #5).

Some primates express fear of or avoid interaction with humans, including accepting food. Counter‐conditioning training designed to reduce fear and increase the acceptance of food from a person's hand can reduce the stress an animal...

Brown, T. A., Lutz, C. K., 2018. An assessment of porches as enrichment for singly housed cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis). American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 18 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #21).

Effective environmental enrichment encourages usage, promotes species‐typical behaviors, and/or decreases abnormal behaviors. Porches are small cages that attach to the primary cage of an animal to provide additional space and a better view of the...

Woelffer, S., Ace, L., Sullivan, J. et al., 2018. Enhanced physical environment in single-housed macaques: A long-term usage profile of cage extensions. American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 19-20 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #25).

Social housing is always preferred in the research environment; however, single housing is sometimes necessitated by scientific objectives or social incompatibility. In these cases, other environmental enhancements are developed to provide indirect social interactions. We...

Coleman, K., Robertson, N. D. 2018. Training non-lactating rhesus macaques to act as foster mothers. American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 34-35 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #94).

There can be psychological and physiological consequences resulting from nursery rearing rhesus macaques. To reduce the need for nursery rearing, orphaned infants are often placed with lactating foster mothers. Unfortunately, a supply of these lactating...

Yoshimoto, T., Takahashi, E., Yamashita, S. et al. 2018. Larger cages with housing unit environment enrichment improve the welfare of marmosets. Experimental Animals 67(1), 31-39.

The provision of adequate space for laboratory animals is essential not only for good welfare but accurate studies. For example, housing conditions for primates used in biomedical research may negatively affect welfare and thus the...

Hocking, A. J., Elliot, D., Hua, J. et al. 2018. Administering fixed oral doses of curcumin to rats through voluntary consumption. JAALAS 57(5), 508–512.

Curcumin, a polyphenol derived from turmeric, has a wide variety of therapeutic benefits including antiinflammatory, antioxidative, and chemopreventative effects. Oral gavage is widely performed to administer curcumin in laboratory rodents in several experimental models. Although...

Raya, J., Neves Girardi , C. E., Hipólide, D. C. 2019. Corticosterone assimilation by a voluntary oral administration in palatable food to rats. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 22(1), 37-41.

Drug delivery in research on nonhuman animals in the laboratory is still challenging because it is usually invasive and stressful. Stress-free voluntary oral drug administration in water lacks precise control of dose and timing of...