Hippophae rhamnoides L.: A Comprehensive Review on the Botany, Traditional Uses, Phytonutrients, Health Benefits, Quality Markers, and Applications

Abstract

Hippophae rhamnoides L. (sea buckthorn), consumed as a food and health supplement worldwide, has rich nutritional and medicinal properties. Different parts of H. rhamnoides L. were used in traditional Chinese medicines for relieving cough, aiding digestion, invigorating blood circulation, and alleviating pain since ancient times. Phytochemical studies revealed a wide variety of phytonutrients, including nutritional components (proteins, minerals, vitamins, etc.) and functional components like flavonoids (1− 99), lignans (100−143), volatile oils (144−207), tannins (208−230), terpenoids (231−260), steroids (261−270), organic acids (271−297), and alkaloids (298−305). The pharmacological studies revealed that some crude extracts or compounds of H. rhamnoides L. demonstrated various health benefits, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anticardiovascular disease, anticancer, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, neuroprotective, antibacterial activities, and their effective doses and experimental models were summarized and analyzed in this paper. The quality markers (Q-markers) of H. rhamnoides L. were predicted and analyzed based on protobotanical phylogeny, traditional medicinal properties, expanded efficacy, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, and component testability. The applications of H. rhamnoides L. in juice, wine, oil, ferment, and yogurt were also summarized and future prospects were examined in this review. However, the mechanism and structure−activity relationship of some active compounds are not clear, and quality control and potential toxicity are worth further study in the future.

Isorhamnetin: what is the in vitro evidence for its antitumor potential and beyond?

“…H. rhamnoides L. is indigenous to Eurasia and is mainly distributed in China, Greece, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Turkey, and India. The characteristics of the H. rhamnoides L. are described detailly in Table 1 ( Ma et al, 2023 ). There are 5 subtypes of H. rhamnoides L. , which includes H. rhamnoides subsp.…”

“…Isorhamnetin (ISO), a flavonoid predominantly found in fruits and leaves of various plants, including Hippophae rhamnoides L. (H. rhamnoides L.) , is renowned for its diverse pharmacological effects ( Gong et al, 2020 ). H. rhamnoides L. is a medicinal and food homologous plant reported to contain over 190 bioactive components ( Ma et al, 2023 ). The plant, including its fruits, seeds, leaves, roots, and branches, is rich in nutrients and chemicals.…”

Characteristics of dew on leaves of typical plants in Loess Hill and Gully Region of China

“…Tribulus with a heigh of about 0.1 m tall is an annual growing herb, even-numbered pinnately compound leaves, leaflets opposite, and leaf surface densely covered with long tomentum. The growth period of Tribulus can be divided into seedling, stem and leaf growth, bud pregnancy, flowering, fruit ripening and wilting period, usually from mid-May to the end of October; The growth height of 75 Hippophae is about 1.5 m. Its leaves are pubescent, narrow, and lanceolate, with a silver-gray color (Ma et al, 2023). The growth period of Hippophae can be divided into germination stage, leaf spreading stage, shoot growth stage, flowering stage, fruit maturity stage.…”

Flavonoid Compounds in Hippophae rhamnoides L. Protect Endothelial Cells from Oxidative Damage Through the PI3K/AKT‐eNOS Pathway

“…[9] The main components of sea buckthorn include flavonoids, phenols, proteins, vitamins, amino acids, and polysaccharides. [10] Its traditional functions and indications include cough suppression, phlegm elimination, digestion promotion, blood circulation improvement, and blood stasis alleviation. Modern pharmacological research has shown that sea buckthorn plants exhibit various beneficial pharmacological activities, such as antitumor, [11] antioxidant, [12] blood glucose reduction, [13] antifatigue, [14] immune regulation, [15] liver protection, [16] and gut microbiota regulation.…”