Quality assessment of raw and baked Aucklandia lappa Decne. by color measurement and fingerprint analysis.

Aucklandia lappa Decne. has been used as a traditional Chinese herb for thousands of years in treating various kinds of disorders. According to Chinese Pharmacopoeia, there are two kinds of processed products, raw and baked Aucklandia lappa Decne., which have different therapeutic effect in clinical application. In this study, based on color measurement and fingerprint analysis, the method to assess the quality of these two processed products was established. In color measurement, the reference ranges of color parameters (L* , a* and b* ), standard color difference values and mathematical prediction functions of these two processed products were obtain after the color was measured by spectrophotometer. Meanwhile, HPLC fingerprints of these two processed products were established, where there were 12 peaks recognized as the common peaks in both processed products, in which 2 peaks were identified as costunolide and dehydrocostus lactone, and these two processed products were classified with chemometrics analysis subsequently. Furthermore, the correlation between color parameters and sample compositions was explored and the contents of costunolide and dehydrocostus lactone were determined simultaneously by HPLC. Consequently, an integral method including color measurement, HPLC fingerprint with chemometrics analysis and quantitative determination was established. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.