A supernatural multipurpose plant sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.): An updated overview of its folk traditional uses, phytochemical profile and biological activities

BACKGROUND: Sea buckthorn (SBT) (Hippophae rhamnoides L.), a shrub rich with a huge variety of vitamins, antioxidants and other biologically active constituents with pharmacological and cosmaceutical applications. OBJECTIVE: The current review aims to compile the recent reported data on the ethnobotany, phytochemistry, biological activities and cosmaceutical uses of SBT plant from different regions of the world. METHODS: A wide-ranging inquiry on SBT was done electronically on the basis of articles and abstracts published in peer-reviewed journals, issued in conference proceedings, government reports, books, Master’s and Ph.D. theses etc. The research was carried out in different International scientific databases like Academic Search, Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS, BioOne Previews, CabDirect, Cochrane Library, Pubmed/Medline, GeoRef, Google Scholar, JSTOR, Journal Citation Reports, Mendeley, Publons, Researchgate, Scopus, SciELO, Springer Link, Science Direct, Web of Science, Taylor and Francis with particular keywords. RESULTS: A total of 185 published papers were assessed through the search approach and 162 papers were included published on SBT. It was evident from the literature search that the uses of SBT as traditional medicine so far against nearly 50 health related complications in more than 18 regions of the world are still a common practice where the decoction of leaves and juice/paste from berries/fruits of SBT were the common administration modes. Data on the phytochemical profile of SBT revealed more than 50 diverse reported groups of compounds with remarkable antioxidant activity against reactive oxygen species (ROS) using DPPH, FRAP and ABTS as common methods. Moreover to-date, the reported antimicrobial activity of SBT uncovered that the extracts from SBT were examined in contradiction of 32 strains of bacteria and 15 strains of fungus with significant inhibitory actions against the bacterial and fungal strains. The SBT extracts actions reported so far on different viral disease categories displayed active inhibition of the growth of nearly 15 different viral strains. The reported anticancer activity of compounds in SBT extracts to date evidenced remarkable results against more than 20 different cancer cell lines/ types. Moreover, SBT oil containing fatty acids, tocopherols and carotenoids is effectively used with cosmetics applications for skin care. CONCLUSIONS: Conclusively, SBT is rich with several remarkable phytochemicals that may have diverse biological actions and for that reason reassure the use of decoctions and/or infusions of SBT as folk traditional medicine around the world. Conversely, it is essential to explore the molecular mechanisms of compounds responsible for biological activites of SBT and to advance in the research of clinical uses and development of SBT based therapeutic and cosmetic products.