By determination the section color and lustre indexes as well as the content of baicalin in 30 batches of Scutellariae Radix slices, calculate the correlation of these two, screen the color and lustre indexes which could represent their intrinsic quality, and establish a new grade classification method based on the results. The results showed that samples met the conditions of △L≥－37, △b≥45 simultaneously were picked grade and the content of baicalin was of ≥200 mg•g⁻¹ definitely; Samples inconsistent with any one of above conditions were general grade. This research indicated that indexes of △L and △b could characterize both the color and luster of slice and intrinsic quality, so that could be used as the indexes to classify the grades of Scutellariae Radix slices accurately, easily and objectively. The research results would provide new ideas and references for grade classification of traditional Chinese medicine slices.
Keywords: Scutellariae Radix; color; grade classification; slice.
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