Skip to Main Content
University of Maryland Libraries Logo
RESEARCH GUIDES

IACUC: Animal Use Alternatives

This guide provides information on searching the literature for alternatives to painful and distressful procedures in animal research.

3Rs Keyword Examples

Note: The below example terms are not comprehensive and should not all be included in a search for your protocol. They are provided as a starting point.

Terminology for Replacement Alternatives

  • Algae OR fungus OR hydra OR plant
  • Animal alternatives OR alternative OR animal replacement OR non-animal model
  • Artificial intelligence OR AI
  • Bacteria OR microorganism OR protozoan OR single-celled organism
  • Cadaver OR carcass OR autopsy
  • Cell OR cell line OR cell assay
  • Culture AND (cell OR tissue OR organ)
  • Computer aided instruction OR computer assisted instruction OR CAI
  • Computer (simulation or application)
  • Computational (method or model)
  • Digital imaging
  • Fish OR cephalopod
  • Insect OR invertebrate
  • Isolated AND (cell OR tissue OR organ)
  • Mannequin OR manikin
  • Membrane OR organ OR organelle OR slice OR tissue 
  • (Model OR modelling OR modeling) AND (animal OR cadaveric OR interactive OR mathematical
    OR statistical OR theoretical)
  • Plastinate OR plastination
  • Simulation
  • Software
  • Train OR educate OR teach OR instruct
  • Video
  • Virtual AND (surgery OR reality)
  • Vitro AND (method OR model OR technique)

Terminology for Reduction & Refinement Alternatives

  • Adverse
  • Analgesic OR hypnotic OR pain management OR sedative OR tranquilizer
  • Anesthesia OR anaethesia OR anesthetic OR anaesthetic 
  • Anxiolytic
  • Enrichment AND (behavioral OR behavioural OR environmental)
  • Euthanasia
  • Experimental design
  • Handling OR housing OR husbandry OR caging
  • Non-invasive
  • Monitoring device
  • Positive reinforcement
  • Postoperative OR postsurgery
  • Reduction OR refinement
  • Restraint OR restrict OR immobilize
  • Welfare OR pain OR stress OR distress

These keywords are adapted from the Animal Welfare Information Center and Duke University's libguide: Animals in Research.

Animal Species Search Hedges

Search hedges are pre-made, standardized search strings that can be used to identify relevant articles for a specific research topic or population. Search hedges can help save time and make searches more effective, but they may need to be modified to work for specific databases or research topics. 

Search Example

This is an example of a search run in PubMed.

#1: "ferrets"[MeSH Terms] OR "ferrets"[Title/Abstract] OR "ferret"[Title/Abstract] OR "mustela putorius*"[Title/Abstract] OR "M. putorius"[Title/Abstract] (8,302 results)

#2: challenge*[Title/Abstract] OR infect*[Title/Abstract] OR administ*[Title/Abstract] OR expos*[Title/Abstract] OR inoculat*[Title/Abstract] (5,920,318 results)

#3: "influenza a virus, h5n1 subtype"[MeSH Terms] OR "h5n1 subtype influenza a virus"[All Fields] OR "h5n1"[Title/Abstract] OR "h5n1 virus"[Title/Abstract] OR "bird flu"[Title/Abstract] OR "avian influenza"[Title/Abstract] OR "avian flu"[Title/Abstract] (17,085 results)

#4: "less invasive"[Title/Abstract] OR noninvasive[Title/Abstract] OR "minimally invasive"[Title/Abstract] OR "stress- free"[Title/Abstract] OR welfare[Title/Abstract] OR "well-being"[Title/Abstract] OR refinement[Title/Abstract] OR 3Rs[Title/Abstract] OR "three rs"[Title/Abstract] OR "non- aversive"[Title/Abstract] OR painless[Title/Abstract] OR "less aversive"[Title/Abstract] OR "low stress"[Title/Abstract] OR humane[Title/Abstract] OR method*[Title/Abstract] OR procedure*[Title/Abstract] OR natural[Title/Abstract] OR aerosol*[Title/Abstract] OR airborne[Title/Abstract] (10,375,360 results)

#1 AND #2 AND #3 AND #4 (124 results) (Could reduce this further by searching “ferret" only in [Title].)