Safety profile of synthetic versus natural Psoralen

Psoralen is used widely in the treatment of various skin diseases such as Psoriasis, Vitiligo etc. The Psoralen used for the above purpose is in oral dosage form and the topical dosage form is likely to reduce the severe side effects of oral Psoralen. However the phototoxic effect of Psoralen in topical form limit the medical fraternity from accepting it when compared to oral Psoralen. The safety profile of synthetic Psoralen versus natural Psoralen was done and natural Psoralen was found to be non-genotoxic and exerted least toxicity to keratinocytes and melanocytes when the cells were exposerd to UV exposure. The present study clearly conclude that natural Psoralen is extremely safe over synthetic Psoralen and the topical dosage form can bring down the side effects and enhance the treatment success. Details are discussed in the paper.