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. 
Lambert, H., Cornish, A., Waley, D. 2024. The value of regulating stocking densities in aquaculture must not be dismissed: A reply to Saraiva et al. 2022. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.

We would like to rebut the argument made by Saraiva et al. (1) in their paper “Finding the “golden stocking density”: a balance between fish welfare and farmers' perspectives,” that stocking densities should not be...

Golledge, H., Richardson, C. (Eds.) 2024. The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory and Other Research Animals (9th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. 1040 p.

The latest edition of the seminal reference on the care and management of laboratory and research animals. The newly revised ninth edition of The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory and Other...

Farag, A., Mandour, A. S., Hendawy, H. et al. 2023. A review on experimental surgical models and anesthetic protocols of heart failure in rats. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10, 1103229.

Heart failure (HF) is a serious health and economic burden worldwide, and its prevalence is continuously increasing. Current medications effectively moderate the progression of symptoms, and there is a need for novel preventative and reparative...

Parsons, M., Stryjek, R., Fendt, M. et al. 2023. Making a case for the free exploratory paradigm: Animal welfare-friendly assays that enhance heterozygosity and ecological validity. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17, 1228478.

Animal welfare considerations are an essential part of scientific research. If animals may suffer, then even 26 the most promising research plans can be delayed or rejected and the resulting data may be questionable. 27...

Lupfer, G., Brandenburger, A., Machado, M. et al. 2023. Ultrasonic vocalizations near 30 kHz may indicate excitement rather than distress in female Wistar rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 261, 105881.

Rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), sometimes referred to as 50-kHz vocalizations, during activities such as play and lower-frequency USVs, sometimes referred to as 22-kHz vocalizations, when experiencing distress. Definitions of 22-kHz vocalizations vary in terms...

Broadfoot, C. K., Lenell, C., Kelm-Nelson, C. A. et al. 2023. Effects of social isolation on 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations, affective state, cognition, and neurotransmitter concentrations in the ventral tegmental and locus coeruleus of adult rats. Behavioural Brain Research 437, 114157.

Vocal communication, cognition, and affective state are key features of sustained health and wellness, and because vocalizations are often socially-motivated, social experience likely plays a role in these behaviors. The monoaminergic systems of the ventral...

Becker, L., Mallien, A. S., Pfeiffer, N. et al. 2023. Evidence-based severity assessment of the forced swim test in the rat. PLOS ONE 18(10), e0292816.

The forced swim test (FST) is a traditional assay, which has been used for more than 40 years to assess antidepressant effects of novel drug candidates. In recent years, a debate about the test has...

Nunes, S. 2023. Animal-friendly behavioral testing in field studies: Examples from ground squirrels. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17.

Field studies of behavior provide insight into the expression of behavior in its natural ecological context and can serve as an important complement to behavioral studies conducted in the lab under controlled conditions. In addition...

Parsons, M. H., Stryjek, R., Fendt, M. et al. 2023. Making a case for the free exploratory paradigm: Animal welfare-friendly assays that enhance heterozygosity and ecological validity. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17.

Rodents, laboratory rats and mice, have been used as models in experimental research for almost two centuries (Keeler, 1947; Bolles and Woods, 1964; Nishioka, 1995; Guénet and Bonhomme, 2003). During this time, it has been...

Siddall, R. 2023. Ethorobotic rats for rodent behavioral research: Design considerations. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 17.
Calisir, M., Yilmaz, O., Kolatan, H. E. et al. 2023. Effects of litter size and caging on physical and mental development in rats. Physiology & Behavior 267, 114200.

As a multidisciplinary field, laboratory animal science promotes or accelerates the emergence of innovative ideas and products. As research has increased, so has the demand for laboratory animals with reliable, standardized characteristics. Thus, the breeding...

Butcher, G., Davidson, A., Sloanc, A. et al. 2021. An apparatus for automatically training and collecting individualized behavioral data with socially housed rodents. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 365, 109387.

Background: Conventional methods for individually housing, training, and testing rodents in behavioral assays can impose constraints that may limit some kinds of experimental external validity, preempt environmental enrichment, impose heavy experimenter time burdens that limit...

Tivey, E. K. L., Martin, J. E., Brown, S. M. et al. 2022. Sex differences in 50 kHz call subtypes emitted during tickling-induced playful behaviour in rats. Scientific Reports 12(1), 15323.

‘Tickling’ induces positive affective states in laboratory rats as evidenced by the production of 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalisations (USVs), although this has mostly been investigated in males. Juvenile rats emit distinctive 50-kHz USV subtypes. Frequency-modulated (FM)...

Farag, A., Mandour, A. S., Hamabe, L. et al. 2022. Novel protocol to establish the myocardial infarction model in rats using a combination of medetomidine-midazolam-butorphanol (MMB) and atipamezole. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 1064836.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the most common cardiac problems causing deaths in humans. Previously validated anesthetic agents used in MI model establishment are currently controversial with severe restrictions because of ethical concerns. The...

Saraiva, J. L., Rachinas-Lopes, P., Arechavala-Lopez, P. 2022. Finding the “golden stocking density”: A balance between fish welfare and farmers’ perspectives. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 930221.

The effects of stocking density on fish welfare are complex and involve many interacting parameters. This complex relationship between fish welfare, stocking density and influencing factors make it challenging to define a specific optimal (“golden”)...

Lima, A. F., Lima, S. G. C., Nogueira-Filho, S. L. G. et al. 2022. Vocal expression of emotions in farmed spotted paca (Cuniculus paca). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 256, 105753.

Vocal emissions in non-human mammals can be used as non-invasive indicators of animal emotion and welfare. Therefore, we aimed to validate the use of acoustic parameters as indicators of affective states and welfare in farmed...

Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Kuhn, D. D. et al. 2022. Impact of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Animal Cognition 25(5), 1331–1343.

Environmental condition, such as environmental complexity or stocking density, can directly or indirectly influence animal emotion and ultimately, affective state. Affective states of animals can be assessed through judgement bias tests, evaluating responses to ambiguous...

Huss, M. K., Pacharinsak, C. 2022. A review of long-acting parenteral analgesics for mice and rats. JAALAS 61(6), 595–602.

Appropriate analgesia is a crucial part of rodent postoperative and postprocedural pain. Providing appropriate analgesia is an ethical obligation, a regulatory requirement, and an essential element of obtaining quality scientific results and conducting reproducible data...

Ramos, J., Balasch, J. C., Tort, L. 2021. About welfare and stress in the early stages of fish. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 634434.

In conclusion, the investigations carried out up to now demonstrate that during the early stages fish show high sensitivity to many types of stressors involving an array of responses to overcome alterations that could affect...

Seidisarouei, M., van Gurp, S., Pranic, N. M. et al. 2021. Distinct profiles of 50 kHz vocalizations differentiate between social versus non-social reward approach and consumption. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 15, 693698.

Social animals tend to possess an elaborate vocal communication repertoire, and rats are no exception. Rats utilize ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) to communicate information about a wide range of socially relevant cues, as well as information...

Wooden, J. I., Spinetta, M. J., Nguyen, T. et al. 2021. A sensitive homecage-based novel object recognition task for rodents. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 15, 680042.

The recognition of novel objects is a common cognitive test for rodents, but current paradigms have limitations, such as low sensitivity, possible odor confounds and stress due to being performed outside of the homecage. We...

Krueger, L. D., Chang, S. E., Motoc, M. et al. 2021. Effects of pair housing on patency of jugular catheters in rats (Rattus norvegicus). JAALAS 60(3), 357-364.

Chronic vascular access devices are widely used in a variety of species for repeated blood sampling or substance administration. Jugular catheters are commonly used for studying addiction-related behaviors in rats. Rats with catheters have historically...

Prior, H., Blunt, H., Crossman, L. et al. 2021. Refining procedures within regulatory toxicology studies: Improving animal welfare and data. Animals 11(11), 3057.

During the development of potential new medicines or agrochemicals, an assessment of the safety profile to humans and environmental species is conducted using a range of different in silico and in vitro techniques in conjunction...

da Silva Medeiros Elidio, H., Coelho, J. W. R., Cavalcanti Pereira da Silva, L. C. et al. 2021. Housing density and aggression in Syrian hamsters. JAALAS 60(5), 506-509.

The Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is a solitary and naturally territorial animal, with female hamsters being more aggressive than males. This behavior makes handling difficult because they are usually housed in groups, which can lead...

Locklear, J., Whiteside, T. E. 2021. Optimal colloidal water gel type and novel placement for frequent travelers. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(6) (November/December), 38-40.

During transportation, animals must have a water source available to prevent dehydration. Some shipping facilities use potatoes whereas, others use colloidal water gels that provide a uniform water source. The problem occurs when colloidal water...