Effects of whole <i>Cannabis sativa</i> ingestion on behavioural patterns and oxidative stress in mice brain tissues

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.

Keywords: Cannabis sativa, Neuro-behaviour, Oral ingestion, Locomotory function, Oxidative stress