In vivo
Encyclopedia : I : IN : INV : In vivo
In vivo (Latin for (with)in the living). In vivo is used to indicate the presence of a whole/living organism (for example, in an experiment), in distinction to a partial or dead organism or a computer model. Animal testing and clinical trials are forms of in vivo research.
In vivo research differentiates whole organism research from in vitro research, which is performed on organs, tissues, cells, cellular components, proteins, or biomolecules.
In vivo can also refer to a medical context, such as in vivo fertilisation (c.f. in vitro fertilisation).
In vivo research
In vivo research is more suited to observe an overall effect than in vitro research, which is better suited to deduce mechanisms of action. In vitro research aims to describe and understand the effect of an experimental variable on a subset of an organism's components. In vitro research has the advantage over in vivo research that there are fewer variables which can confound an experiment, and that if an experimental effect is subtle the result will be more clearly visible.
In vivo research has the advantage, Whether the aim is to discover drugs or to gain knowledge of biological systems, the nature and properties of a chemical tool cannot be considered independently of the system it is to be tested in. Compounds that bind to isolated recombinant proteins are one thing; chemical tools that can perturb cell function another; and pharmacological agents that can be tolerated by a live organism and perturb its systems are yet another. If it were simple to ascertain the properties required to develop a lead discovered in vitro to one that is active in vivo, drug discovery would be as reliable as drug manufacturing.
The massive adoption of low-cost, in vitro, molecular biology techniques has caused a move away from in vivo research, which is considered too idiosyncratic and, above all, expensive compared to its molecular counterpart. Currently, in vitro models and experiments are a vital and highly productive research tool.
The guinea pig was previously such a commonly used in vivo experimental model that they became part of idiomatic English: being a guinea pig for someone/something. Their use in research has been substantially replaced by the smaller, cheaper and faster breeding rats and mice.
As the term is in Latin, it is written in italics.
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References
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