Ethnomedicinal plants used for malaria treatment in Southwest Sumba, Indonesia, with GC-MS phytochemical profiling

Mone O, Purnomo, Chasani AR. 2026. Ethnomedicinal plants used for malaria treatment in Southwest Sumba, Indonesia, with GC-MS phytochemical profiling. Asian J Nat Prod Biochem 24 (2): f240202. https://doi.org/10.13057/biofar/f240202. Southwest Sumba has the highest malaria incidence among the four districts on Sumba Island, Indonesia. The local community maintains a close relationship with nature and utilizes plants for medicinal purposes. However, users are often unable to assess the validity of traditional healing practices scientifically. Limited availability of scientific data on the efficacy and bioactive constituents of medicinal plants used on Sumba Island has led to continued reliance on traditional medicine without a robust scientific foundation. This study aims to document the use of plants for malaria treatment, investigate their phytochemical content, and perform Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)-based phytochemical screening on five plant species collected from the study area. The relative abundance of each compound was determined based on the percentage of peak area obtained from the GC-MS chromatogram. Compounds with the highest percentage in each extract were considered the major phytochemical profile for each plant species. This research used semi-semi-structured interviews with 25 informants, snowball and purposive sampling, and field observations to identify species and document findings. Phytochemical profiling was based on a literature review of research databases such as ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, using the search keywords "plant species name", "phytochemistry", "bioactivity", or "pharmacological activity." Plant samples of five species with low Use Value scores were collected for phytochemical analysis. Compounds from the plant samples were extracted through maceration and analyzed using GC-MS. A total of 43 plant species were identified for malaria treatment, with oral administration being the predominant method. Literature-based phytochemical analysis revealed that these plants contain alkaloids, polyphenols (phenolics, flavonoids, tannins), steroids, saponins, terpenoids, and other compounds. Based on the literature review, polyphenols are among the phytochemical classes frequently reported to exhibit antimalarial activity in the plants investigated. The mechanisms of action of these compounds include repellent activity, larvicidal effects, parasite inhibition, and symptomatic treatment of malaria. Overall, this study documents the local community’s use of medicinal plants in Southwest Sumba and presents a preliminary characterization of their phytochemical profiles using GC-MS analysis. The analysis was limited to an initial screening of chemical compounds. These findings may serve as a basis for future studies aimed at evaluating the pharmacological potential of these medicinal plants through more comprehensive biological assays.