The prevalence of various gastric diseases is poorly documented around the world, particularly in Africa and more specifically in Cameroon. Their treatment till today remains an important subject of study. Nauclea pobeguinii is a plant in the Rubiaceae family and is commonly used in traditional medicine to treat illnesses such as fever, gastric ulcer, arthritis, and pain. The present research established the epidemiological profile of gastric diseases linked by any way to an infection with Helicobacter pylori in the health unit of Dschang between 2008 and 2018, then evaluated the gastroprotective and healing effects of aqueous and methanolic extracts of Nauclea pobeguinii. The retrospective cross-sectional study took place in the city of Dschang, western region of Cameroon, more precisely the District Hospital of the city of Dschang, at the Saint Vincent de Paul hospital and at the hospital of Sisters of Batsingla. HCl/ethanol, histamine and indomethacin gastric ulcer models were used. It emerges from this study that gastritis (72.6%), gastralgia (17.8%), peptic ulcer (5.1%) and gastric ulcer (3.1%) were the most common gastric pathologies more frequent. Men were more affected than women. The rate of Helicobacter pylori infection in the population was 86.95% with no significant difference in sex, age and occupation. N. pobeguinii extracts (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) significantly (p<0.001) inhibited gastric ulceration induced by HCl/ethanol by 80.76%, 69.97% and 51.24% for aqueous extract and 39.53%, 96.42% and 100% for the methanolic extract. For histamine-induced ulcers, the aqueous extract at all doses and the methanolic extracts (400 mg/kg) significantly (p<0.001) reduced gastric lesions in rats. Curative treatment with extracts of N. pobeguinii at all doses in indomethacin ucer showed a significant reduction (p<0.001) of ulcerated surfaces with healing percentages of 88.28%, 85.06% and 85.38% for the aqueous extract; and 87.98%, 92.69% and 93.47% for the methanolic extract. Histopathological analysis demonstrated regeneration of the stomach layers in animals treated with the extracts. In this population, gastritis and Helicobacter pylori infection are the gastric pathologies most often diagnosed. Extracts from the bark of N. pobeguinii have gastroprotective and healing effects, which could result from their anti-secretory and anti-acid activities.

Keywords: Nauclea pobeguinii, healing effect, gastric diseases, Helicobacter pylori, prevalence