EFFECTS OF WHOLE CANNABIS SATIVA INGESTION ON BEHAVIOURAL PATTERNS AND OXIDATIVE STRESS IN MICE BRAIN TISSUES
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Date
2019-04-12
Journal Title
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Publisher
Animal Research International
Abstract
The unregulated habitual use of whole Cannabis sativa remains a challenge for the
potential medical usefulness of the plant. As a psychoactive substance with different
physiological properties, the onset and extent of its effects are often a factor of the mode
of consumption. This study evaluated the neuro-behavioural effects of daily oral
ingestion of C. sativa and its modulatory changes in oxidative stress parameters in mice
brain tissues. Twenty-five male Swiss albino mice were separated into 5 groups of 5
animals each. Cannabis-diet were prepared from whole dried cannabis and standard mice
feed. Groups I – IV, were fed with 40, 20, 10 and 1 % cannabis-diet ad libitum for 14
days, while group V animals were fed the standard mice diet ad libitum for 14 days and
served as control. Neuro-behavioural activities were assessed by observing animals
rearing, grooming, ambulation, head dipping and freezing times. The brain oxidative
stress parameters were assayed to determine the effect of cannabis oral consumption on
activity in mice brain. The animals fed with cannabis-diet displayed significantly reduced
anxiety but statistically insignificant locomotory function, exploratory tendencies and
neophilia, in a quantity dependent manner relative to the controls. Cannabis
demonstrated both antioxidant and oxidative stress tendencies. Ingestion of whole
cannabis plants may not adversely influence neuro-behavioural patterns in animals. A
trade-off between oxidative stress induction and brain tissue injury repair mechanisms
may have been elicited by different constituents of Cannabis. Thus, oral ingestion of
cannabis may not readily cause changes in neuro-behavioural patterns.
Description
Keywords
Cannabis sativa, Neuro-behaviour, Oral ingestion, Locomotory function, Oxidative stress