RESUMEN
On the basis of analysis and summary of current application of reference extracts of traditional Chinese medicine, reference extracts for quality assessment of traditional Chinese medicines are divided into three classes by purpose: 1. herbal or volatile oil reference extracts for TLC identification of original herbal medicines or patent traditional Chinese medicines containing original herbal medicines. 2. component reference extracts for identification of certain components or positioning of chromatographic peaks. 3. reference extracts marked with component content to be determined for quantitative analysis on samples. For the third kind of reference extracts, akebiae saponin was taken as an example for preparation thought and methods in such aspects as preparation process, component identification and content analysis.