Therapeutic effect of Ipomoea Batatas extracts on induced psoriasis in mice

Introduction: Psoriasis is a non-curable, T-cell mediated autoimmune chronic skin disease with a prevalence of 5% in Malaysia (cf. world average of 2%). Treatment options are essentially symptomatic dominated by oral or topical steroids and in severe cases require anti-cancer drug such as methotrexate or anti T-cells drug likes cyclosporine. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) leaves (SPL), a common edible plant in Malaysia has been anecdotally reported by a number of psoriatic patients to be effective in inducing remission. Materials and methods: Psoriasifom lesions were induced in 15 male BALB/c mice using imiquimoid for 21 days and divided into 3 equal groups. One group was designated as control and the other two groups were subjected to topical application of aqueous SPL extract and lipophilic SPL extract respectively. Modified psoriatic Area and Severity Index (PASI) score, histological changes and intracellular cytokines of TNF-? and IFN-? were compared between the groups for pre-induction, post induction and post treatment. Result: Both groups subjected to topical SPL extracts showed significant improvement compared to control group with slight therapeutic superiority shown by the lipophilic extract in all parameters. No toxicity effect evidenced by histological examination noted. Discussion: Synergistic effect of bioactive compounds within the SPL extracts especially by the lipophilic components showed promising potential to be a steroid-sparing anti-psoriactic medication. Further confirmation of its potential using psoriatic patients should be undertaken to assess its true potential.