In the process of preparing presonalized concentrated watered pills, the decoction needs to be concentrated by heat and mixed with medicinal slices or powder to prepare a wet mass. However, some of the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) components are easily decomposed or transformed by heat. In order to optimize the preparation process of presonalized TCM concentrated watered pills and reduce the loss of heat-unstable components in prescriptions, this study uses five compound TCM prescriptions containing heat-unstable components as model prescriptions, namely the Linggui Zhugan Formula, Xiaochengqi Formula, Sanpian Formula, Xiaoer Qixing Formula, and Xiaoyao Formula. Based on the two kinds of preparation process of presonalized concentrated watered pills previously established by our research group, whole extract concentrated watered pills and concentrated watered pills without excipients are prepared, respectively. Characteristic maps are measured and compared with those of the corresponding decoction. The results show that the characteristic maps of the concentrated watered pills without excipients of the five model prescriptions are very close to those of the decoction, and the number of characteristic peaks and peak areas are higher than those of whole extract concentrated watered pills. In addition, the peak area of some peaks is higher than that of the corresponding decoction. Thus, it is recommended to select the preparation process of prescription-based concentrated watered pills without excipients based on the "unification of medicines and excipients" to preserve those heat-unstable components more effectively when the prescription contains a heat-unstable component of TCM. This study provides a basis for the subsequent reasonable development and application of presonalized TCM pills.
Keywords: characteristic map; concentrated watered pills; heat-unstable components; preparation process; presonalized traditional Chinese medicine preparations.