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 that include earlier publications) can be filtered by Animal Type, Setting, and Topic. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 

The highly virulent Toxoplasma gondii RH strain is maintained through successive passages in mice, but there is still a lack of studies that refine these procedures from a 3Rs perspective, where humanitarian ideals aim to...

The use of nonhuman animals in biomedical research is regulated under stringent conditions, not only in response to societal attitudes towards animal experimentation but also because ethical responsibility in scientific research requires researchers and veterinarians...

Acceptance of the possibility of pain in animals usually requires that various criteria are fulfilled. One such criterion is that a noxious stimulus or wound would elicit directed rubbing or grooming at the site of...

The suggestion that decapod crustaceans might experience pain has been dismissed by some authors who claim decapods only respond to noxious stimuli by nociceptive reflexes. Because reflexes do not require complex neuronal processing, but pain...

At least 200 billion black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) are reared each year as food and feed, and the insect farming industry is projected to grow rapidly. Despite interest by consumers, producers, and...

Tail docking is a husbandry practice widely incorporated in sheep farms around the world. It is an irreversible mutilation that impairs animal welfare, both immediately and in the longer term. The defence of tail docking...

Ensuring high standards of animal welfare is not only an ethical duty for zoos and aquariums, but it is also essential to achieve their conservation, education, and research goals. While for some species, animal welfare...

Cognitive bias is defined as the influence of emotions on cognitive processes. The concept of the cognitive judgement bias has its origins in human psychology but has been applied to animals over the past 2...

In the last decade, haynets and slow feeders have been promoted as sustainable tools to improve the feeding management of horses and reduce forage waste, but little is known about their effects on ponies. Therefore...

The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, has been used as a laboratory animal for decades in many research areas. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the nutritional physiology of this amphibian species and...

Zebrafish are an established and widely used animal model, yet there is limited understanding of their welfare needs. Despite an increasing number of studies on zebrafish enrichment, in-tank environmental enrichment remains unpopular among researchers. This...

Behavioural scientists are increasingly recognizing the need to conduct experiments in the wild to achieve a comprehensive understanding of their species’ behaviour. For domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), such progress has been slow. While the life...

Aquaculture of ornamental marine fish is often conducted in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) using artificial seawater. Considering the cost of salts to produce artificial seawater (salinity 35‰), we investigated the effect of different salinities (5...

Formosan serows are endemic to the mountainous regions of Taiwan. This crossover study aimed to assess and compare the anesthetic induction and recovery using either dexmedetomidine–tiletamine–zolazepam (DZ) or dexmedetomidine–ketamine (DK) by intramuscular injection from a...

In the UK and Republic of Ireland, the European badger (Meles meles) is considered the most significant wildlife reservoir of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis, the cause of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). To expand options for bTB...

While general enrichment strategies for captive animals attempt to elicit variable and species-typical behaviors, approaches to cognitive enrichment have been disappointingly one-size-fits-all. In this commentary, we address the potential benefit of tailoring cognitive enrichment to...

Major advancements in ecology and biodiversity conservation have been made thanks to methods for marking and individually tracking animals. Marking animals is both widely used and controversial due to the potential consequences for animal welfare...

Over the past few decades, the concept of animal welfare has become increasingly prominent in Western societies. Faced with this collective awareness, various organisations are now making it a point of honour to consider the...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of recovery from general anesthesia with the administration of two low doses of dexmedetomidine in canine patients. For this blind randomized clinical trial study, 30...

Neuroscience heavily relies on animal welfare in laboratory rodents as it can significantly affect brain development, cognitive function and memory formation. Unfortunately, laboratory animals are often raised in artificial environments devoid of physical and social...

Stalls or crates are a very common type of housing used on pig farms that restrict an animal’s movement. How this confinement impacts the animal’s affective states is seldom investigated. We conducted a preference test...

The complexity experienced in early life can affect trait development of individuals, including sociability and fearfulness. The modern dairy calf’s rearing environment often lacks environmental and social complexity. This study examined the effects of early-life...

A complete assessment of animal welfare requires not just an understanding of negative emotional states, such as fear and anxiety, but also of positive states, such as calmness and happiness. However, few studies have identified...

The almost complete absence of regulations to protect invertebrates is a common condition in legal systems, including the European one, especially when it comes to invertebrates intended for human consumption. Thus, in the vast majority...

Understanding the emotional states of animals is a long-standing research endeavour that has clear applications in animal welfare. Vocalisations are emerging as a promising way to assess both positive and negative emotional states. However, the...