Neurobehavioral and Immunohistochemical Assessment of the Cerebellum in Adult Male Albino Wistar Rats Following Cannabis Sativa Administration

Abstract

Reports abound on the use and effects of Cannabis sativa. High consumption may result in schizophrenia. It put some consumers in a state of coma, while some become unconscious after its consumption. Besides, it restores emotional stability in others and fills some consumers with a sense of wellbeing. Epidemiologic data suggest that Cannabis sativa use is a serious public health problem because it is highly addictive and is associated with a variety of neurological complications. The cerebellum is implicated in locomotor  activity and is richly endowed with cannabinoid-1, CB1 receptors; there was the need to assess the microstructure of the cerebellum and to evaluate locomotor activity on an animal model  following consumption of Cannabis sativa via various routes of administration. Graded doses of various preparations of Cannabis sativa were administered daily for 28 days as follows: Group B: 0.41 mg/kg, 0.2 mg/kg, and 0.13 mg/kg body weight of soxtlet extract of Cannabis sativa via oral ingestion. Group C: 4grams, 2grams and 1grams of grounded dried leaves of Cannabis sativa via inhalation.  Group D: A mixture of 8grams, 4grams and 2 grams of grounded dried leaves of Cannabis sativa and 90grams of animal feed in each case. Group A served as the control while rats in Group E were given 1gm of 10% Tween 80 via oral ingestion. Before and after 28 days of administration of Cannabis sativa, the  open field maze and Morris water maze experiments on neurobehavioral were carried out. Data were expressed as means ± standard error of the mean (M±SEM) and subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using PRIMER, EXE, version 3.01. Significant difference between means was assessed by Student-Newman-Keuls post hoc test. 95% level of significance (P = .05) was used for the statistical analysis; while Microsoft excel 2010 package was used for graphs and error bars.  The findings of this study thus suggest that the extract of Cannabis sativa obtained via soxtlet extraction technique has a mild and lesser psychoactive effect compared to other preparations of Cannabis sativa, thus presents a better method to be adopted in preparation of medical Cannabis.

Keywords: Cannabis sativa. Cerebellum.  Albino  Wistar rats