Analysis of Chinese herbal medicines with holistic approaches and integrated evaluation models

This overview covers current strategies for the analysis of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) with holistic approaches and integrated evaluation models (HAIEMs). We start by discussing the analytical techniques used in HAIEMs for research on CHMs, including gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis. We also describe application of HAIEMs for quality control, elucidation of the properties of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, and metabonomics evaluation of CHMs. HAIEMs are well matched to global and interactive aspects of the non-linear dynamic complex systems of CHMs, and offer the possibility of evaluating whole systems of CHMs.