Sea plant peptides offer range of skin benefits

From the ancient Greek “halos” (salt) and “phyton” (plant), the word halophyte is applied to all the plants growing in salty soils, rich in sodium chloride and other salts. Halophytes are thus plants traditionally found by the sea shore. Growing in salty areas, they have developed a salt tolerant mechanism. Halophytes are also exposed to seawater spray and strong winds; this marine environment specificity gives halophytes the ability to resist harsh environmental conditions. Halophyte plants have therefore developed unique biological strategies that Copalis now puts at the cosmetics industry’s disposal. Halophyte actives come to complete the company’s beauty-fromwithin ingredient, Collactive.

Halophyte plants

A halophyte is a hardy coastal plant that naturally survives in environments where the salt concentration is around 200 mM dissolved salts: seashores, saline semideserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs. They constitute about 1% of the world’s flora. High salt concentration in the environment involves new plant behaviour. Halophytes have to face two problems: on the one hand salt prevents the plant from having a normal water supply; on the other hand, salt uptake has to be controlled so that it does not reach a toxic level. Therefore, halophytes not only need to control their water loss by reducing their evaporation area, but they also have to increase their water storage capacity. The tolerance of all halophytes to salinity relies on the same basic method of osmotic adjustment: controlled uptake and compartmentalisation of sodium, potassium and chloride in the vacuole, and the synthesis and accumulation of organic solutes in the cytoplasm. It is known that halophytes have developed specific pathways by which sodium and chloride enter cells. A clear picture of the physiology of halophyte salt tolerance has emerged, and several key enzyme systems and genetic control mechanisms have been identified. But salt-tolerance mechanisms remain quite complex and, added to the osmotic adjustment, the accumulation of metabolites and ion homeostasis, halophytes also have the ability to control the redox potential and to scavenge activated oxygen species (AOS). Scientific interest of halophytes lies in the fact that the metabolic pathways are original and different to glycophyte plants because of their exposure to saline stress. Because of this difference and their diversity, halophytes have been regarded as a rich source of potential new crops. Many of them have also been tested as forage and oilseed crops in agronomic field trials for their high protein content. Some halophytes are also well known, such as sea kale and glasswort, because of their healing properties and their historical use as food condiments. The use of these plants is well described in pharmaceutical publications, however new innovative actives are still to be discovered in numerous other plants: organic solutes, flavonoids etc. both for the food industry and the cosmetic market.