Tian-Rui Liu, Yan Jin, Hu-Biao Meng, Yu-Yang Zhao, Jun-Hui Zhou, Yuan Yuan, Lu-Qi Huang
State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Dao-di Herbs, National Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica,China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Beijing 100700, China.
Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 2020 Oct;45(19):4545-4554. doi: 10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20200726.102.
In the theories of empirical identification of "arguments on quality" and "five elephants and seven originals", color is regarded as one of the important indicators in the quality evaluation of Chinese medicine. The color of medicinal material including the surface color, the internal color, and the color after processing is caused by the pigment in the cells, which is a characteristic of the "optimal shape". Most pigments have a wide range of pharmacological activities such as anti-oxidation, anti-tumor, anti-atherosclerosis, prevention of coronary heart disease, protection of cardiovascular function, enhancement of immunity, etc. Therefore, the "optimal color" of medicinal materials is unified with the "high quality". This article systematically reviews the research status of "quality discrimination by color", the correlation between L*, a, b~ color space and active ingredients such as alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenes, etc. to explain the "quality discrimination by color" in quantitative characterization. We also summary the research progress on the biosynthesis and regulation of the main pigment components of traditional Chinese medicine, and analyze the biological causes that affect the accumulation of the main pigments. We aim to provide a reference for the theory "quality discrimination by color" in biological knowledge to establish a modern quality control system for Chinese herbal medicines.
在“质论”与“五象七原”的经验识别理论中，颜色被视为中药质量评价的重要指标之一。药材的颜色包括表面颜色、内部颜色以及加工后的颜色，是由细胞中的色素所导致，这是“优形”的一个特征。大多数色素具有广泛的药理活性，如抗氧化、抗肿瘤、抗动脉粥样硬化、预防冠心病、保护心血管功能、增强免疫力等。因此，药材的“优色”与“优质”是统一的。本文系统综述了“颜色鉴质”的研究现状、L*、a*、b~*颜色空间与生物碱、黄酮类、萜类等活性成分之间的相关性，以阐释“颜色鉴质”在定量表征方面的情况。我们还总结了中药主要色素成分的生物合成与调控研究进展，并分析了影响主要色素积累的生物学原因。旨在为“颜色鉴质”理论在生物学知识方面提供参考，以建立中药材现代质量控制体系。
