ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the factors that influence the fermentation process of compound Chinese medicine and determining the optimum fermentation with single factor experiment and response surface methodology. Methods Through controlling the factors in the fermentation process of compound Chinese medicine (such as fermentation bacteria, fermentation time, fermentation temperature, inoculum amount, etc.), with its increase rate of total peak area as evaluation indicator, the alcohol extracts before and after fermentation were monitored and comparative evaluated by HPLC, and the optimum fermentation process was determined by response surface methodology. Results The fermentation process optimized by single factor experiment and response surface methodology was as follows:SZ-2 strain served as the fermentation bacteria, temperature was 33 ℃, inoculum amount was 4%, and time was 3.5 d, the average increase rate of total peak area was 31.24%. Conclusion HPLC can be used to identify and evaluate the fermentation of compound Chinese medicine under the different factors, and to clarify the optimal fermentation process by response surface methodology, which provide reference for the development of fermentation process.