Pharmacognostic Standardization and Quality Controlled Parameters of Polyherbal Formulations

This is a synthesis review of animal evidence on the pharmacognostic standardization and quality-controlled parameters of polyherbal preparations extending to macroscopic and microscopic validation, physicochemical and phytochemical profiling, chromatographic fingerprinting (HPTLC/HPLC), and in vivo pharmacological validation in rodents. Revolving around preclinical research, the review records that morphologically identical, ash and extractive value and chemical fingerprint standardized formulations are more consistent in and reproducible therapeutic effects, mostly which are anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antioxidant, and antidiabetic, in Wistar, Sprague Dawley and Swiss albino. Associations of the integrity of chromatographic markers with normalization of biochemical indices (ALT, AST, ALP, SOD, CAT, GPx and fasting glucose) highlight the practical relevance of analytical-biological analysis. Nonetheless, there are still unresolved inconsistencies such as inter-laboratory inconsistency, lack of harmonized world standards regarding multi-herbal products, lack of application of sophisticated analytics (LC-MS, NMR, metabolomics), and insufficient research on herb-herb pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics. Standardized pharmacognostic-analytical protocols, integration of contemporary chemometric and omics approaches, development of validated digital reference libraries and greater long-term and mechanism-based animal studies should therefore be adopted to enhance quality assurance and translational potential of polyherbal therapeutics.