162 Article Info Article history Received 1 March 2020 Revised 25 April 2020 Accepted 28 April 2020 Published online 30 June 2020 Keywords Bauhinia variegata (L.) Benth. Phlebodium decumanum (Willd.) J. Sm. PSI Psoriasis epidermal thickness Quercetin Original article: Open access Mitigation of dermal auto immune disease through combined action of natural constituents: An advantageous over allopathic medicines Kuntal Das  , Adnan A. Khan*, V. Gowthami, Vivek Sharma and S. Yahya Ahmed Krupanidhi College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy and Natural Product Chemistry, #12/1, Chikkabellandur, Carmelaram Post, Varthur Hobli, Bangaluru-500035, Karnataka, India *Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, Suite Plaza 1, 4510 Execute Drive, San Diego-92121, USA Abstract The present study was aimed for the phytochemical screening of Phlebodium decumanum (Willd.) J. Sm. ( PD) and Bauhinia variegata (L.) Benth. and their synergistic efficacy for the treatment of psoriasis. Herb extract ratio followed by Pharmacognostical screening for both the plants (PD and BV). Thereafter, TLC was performed to detect the constituents. Furthermore, two different dose levels (200 mg/kg b.w., and 400 mg/kg. b.w.) were used for both the methanol extracts (based on acute toxicity study) and the result was compared with standard Rentino A (0.05%). Psoriasis severity index (PSI) according to the phenotypic changes (redness, erythema, and scales) and histological features (epidermal thickness) were evaluated for 28 days. Finally, the correlation study was performed between the activity, yield of extract and constituent present. Series of chemical tests revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids and polyphenols in both PD and BV plants and based on the chemical nature further Quercetin (flavonoid) was isolated from both the plants. Further, resulted progressive reduction (p<0.05) in the severity of psoriatic lesions (redness, erythema, and scales from histopathology study) from the 7 th day to the 28 th days and decreased epidermal thickness in animals treated with combined extracts at a dose of 400 mg/kg b.w. Finally, the result concluded that the isolated Quercetin showed significant anti- psoriasis activity when compared with the combination of methanolic extract of both the studies plants by the mechanism of inhibition of the keratinocyte proliferation. Copyright © 2020 Ukaaz Publications. All rights reserved. Email: ukaaz@yahoo.com; Website: www.ukaazpublications.com Annals of Phytomedicine 9(1): 162-170, 2020 Annals of Phytomedicine: An International Journal http://www.ukaazpublications.com/publications/index.php Print ISSN : 2278-9839 Online ISSN : 2393-9885 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21276/ap.2020.9.1.21 Corresponding author: Dr. Kuntal Das Professor, Krupanidhi College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy and Natural Product Chemistry, #12/1, Chikkabellandur, Carmelaram Post, Varthur Hobli, Bangaluru-500035, Karnataka, India E-mail: drkkdsd@gmail.com Tel.: +91-9632542846 1. Introduction Psoriasis is a chronic disease on skin with extra skin cells. It forms scales and red patches which are silver coloured, itchy and also sometimes painful. It is an auto immune disease which forms in any age group of people, provoked by various triggers such as mild trauma, sunburn, infections, stress and even by systemic drugs (Boehncke and Schon, 2015). It is mainly located on the elbows, knees and scalp but people are not taking seriously the dermatitis which may sometimes has connection with arthritis, myopathy, enteropathy, spondylitic heart disease, diffuse cutaneous and mucosal pustules and electrolyte disturbances etc. (Samuel et al., 1986). Of late, psoriasis is a serious global problem due to unavailability of proper treatments to cure psoriasis from root level (Roberson and Bowcock, 2010) and even the treatments are totally based on controlling the symptoms of the disease. Recent market survey revealed about 25 million people living with psoriatic disease in Worldwide which is 2-3% of the total population and the same is increasing day-by-day due to negligence (Figure 1). Different treatment strategies are available with synthetic medicines but affordability, availability, and prolonged side effects for the psoriasis still a challengeable task (Kim and Del Rosso, 2010). Therefore, treatment based on the natural products is now recent trend which showed much better therapeutic efficacy and also curing psoriasis for long. Herbs or herbal formulations in sole or in combinations are less expensive and are free from risk of side effects that created the interest as a viable alternative of allopathic medicines for psoriasis treatment (Deng et al., 2014, Das et al., 2019). Therefore, in the present study two important plants were selected (Bauhinia variegata (L.) Benth. and Phlebodium decumanum (Willd.) J.Sm.) for treatment of psoriasis and established potent drug combination as antipsoriasis activity. Bauhinia variegata (BV) is a common flowering tree which is abundantly available in roadside throughout India, belongs to the family Fabaceae. The plant is commonly known as Kanchan or Cow’s paw (Kirtikar and Basu, 1999) whereas, Phlebodium decumanum (PD) is commonly known as the ornamental fern, belongs to the family Polypodiaceae, is abundantly available in damp regions in many parts of India (Das et al ., 2017). Traditionally BV plant is antidiabetic, antiulcer, antioxidant, nephroprotective, hepatoprotective as well as Immunomodulatory (Patil et al., 2010; Panda et al., 2011) which are due to the presence of some important phytoconstituents, viz., Lupeol, β-Sitosterol, Kaempferol and Quercetin (Jash et al., 2014) and other constituents like terpenoids, tannins, saponins, reducing sugars, steroids and cardiac glycosides (Gupta et al., 1980; Al-Shafi, 2013). In other