In-Vivo Evaluation: General Principles

In-vivo evaluation of herbal extracts and formulations follows the same ethical and regulatory framework — CPCSEA registration, Institutional Animal Ethics Committee approval, and adherence to the 3Rs principle of replacement, reduction, and refinement — that governs all animal pharmacology research. Herbal in-vivo studies present several distinctive practical considerations: because whole extracts rather than single purified compounds are typically administered, dose is conventionally expressed relative to the crude extract or standardised extract weight (with the corresponding marker compound content recorded for reproducibility), oral administration is overwhelmingly the preferred route given the traditional oral use of most herbal medicines, and study duration is often extended relative to synthetic drug studies in order to capture the gradual onset of effect characteristic of many adaptogenic and chronic-disease-modifying botanical extracts.