THE EFFECT OF CANNABIS SATIVA ON BRAIN TISSUE IN RAT: BEHAVIORAL AND HISTOLOGICAL CHANGES

Background and Aim : Cannabis has been used by humans for thousands of years for medical, spiritual and recreational purposes. It has amnestic, anxiogenic and psychotomimetic effects. So this study was undertaken to assess histological changes in brain tissue and behavioral modifications following Cannabis sativa use. Methods : fifty-four Wistar rats were randomly allocated to 9 equal groups of 6. The experimental group received cannabis subcutaneously (2 mg/kg, 0.5 mL/rat) at 12 hours intervals, for 2 weeks, and the sham group received ethanol (0.5 mL/rat) and the control group received normal saline (0.5 mL/rat), identically. Histological assessment was done 7, 14 and 21-days after interventions. An elevated plus-maze (EPM) evaluated the animals’ behavior using ODLog program and the nociceptive sensitivity was determined by Plantar test. Results : Regarding the effect of cannabis on mean percentage of alternation behavior at the end of the first, second and third week, a significant difference was noted between the experimental and the control group showing that cannabis significantly reduced the spatial memory of the experimental group. Comparison of the effect of cannabis on the mean number of arms the entered rats at the end of the third week between the experimental and the control group, a significant difference was visible.Conclusion : The consumption of cannabis leads to serious damages to the brain tissue of the rats in both the cerebrum and meninges. According to our findings, the consumption of cannabis extracts had a significant effect on the spatial memory of the rats and leads to a serious reduction and disruption of the spatial memory. Hence, we concluded that spatial memory reduction as well as the brain tissue damage is mainly related to the consumption of cannabis.

کلیدواژه ها:

Behavior ، Histology ، Nervous system ، Brain ، Cannabis sativa