The choice of extraction solvent is a significant consideration in ethnomedicine as optimal extraction could influence the bioactivity of the herbal medicinal product.

This study investigated the possible influence of the choice of solvents (methanol and water) for extracting MAMA Powder (MP) against Plasmodium berghei-infected mice to optimize its antimalarial activity and for developing other pharmaceutical dosage forms.

Aqueous and methanol extracts of MP, obtained through the decoction and soxhlet methods, respectively, were subjected to liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) for their respective fingerprints. The antimalarial activities of the methanol and aqueous extracts (12.5–100 mg/kg) were evaluated orally using the chemosuppressive test model on chloroquine-sensitive Plasmodium berghei-infected mice. The methanol extract was subjected to the established infection and prophylactic antimalarial tests with chloroquine (10 mg/kg) and pyrimethamine (1.25 mg/kg) as positive controls, respectively. The aqueous extract was investigated in chloroquine-resistant P. berghei using the chemosuppressive (12.5–800 mg/kg) and established infection (25–400 mg/kg) antimalarial models.

The LC-MS fingerprints of both aqueous and methanol extracts revealed similar indole alkaloid contents. Chemosuppressive activity of the aqueous extract (75.3%) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the methanol extract (67.6%). In the chloroquine-resistant P. berghei infection experiments, the aqueous extract (400 mg/kg) exhibited significant parasite clearance (72%).

The study concluded that the water extract with higher antimalarial activity could be optimized for chloroquine-resistant malaria and can thus facilitate the production of liquid and solid dosage forms.