Integration of HPLC Amino Acid Profiling With AHP-CRITIC Guided Freeze-Drying Process Optimization,...

This study optimized the freeze-drying process of Scorpio, compared its chemical and pharmacodynamic equivalence with traditional salt-processed Scorpio in treating CIA model rats, established an equivalent conversion relationship, and evaluated acute toxicity. Single-factor experiments and orthogonal tests were conducted with prefreezing time, drying time, and temperature as factors and water-soluble protein content, ethanol-soluble extract content, and freeze-drying rate as indices. The analytic hierarchy process-criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (AHP-CRITIC) mixed weighting method was used for comprehensive scoring to determine the optimal process. Chemical equivalence was calculated using four amino acids and water-soluble protein content. Pharmacodynamic equivalence was evaluated in a complete Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis rat model using arthritis index, rheumatoid factor, and serum inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β). Acute toxicity was assessed by determining the LD_{5 0}. Results showed that freeze-killing pretreatment was superior to scalding. The optimal process was prefreezing for 2 h, drying at 45°C for 16 h. Chemical equivalence indicated that 1 g of freeze-dried Scorpio was equivalent to 1.455 g of salt-processed Scorpio. Pharmacodynamic equivalence showed that 1 g of freeze-dried Scorpio was equivalent to 1.081 g of salt-processed Scorpio. The LD_{5 0} of freeze-dried Scorpio was 11.091 g/kg.