Histomorphology Architecture and Weight Changes Following Long Term Exposure to Marijuana (Cannabis sativa) Smoke on the Liver of Wistar Rats

Abstract

Smoking is a practice in which a substance such as, tobacco, marijuana or cannabis is burned and the smoke tasted or inhaled. This study was carried out to assess the effects of marijuana (Cannabis sativa) smoke on the weight and the histomorphological architecture on the liver of wistar rats. Fifty (50) male wistar rats with weights ranging from 170-250g divided into five groups A-E of ten (10) rats each were used for the study. The rats in the control groups (A and B) were exposed to normal air and smoke from cigarette wrapper respectively, while the rats in groups C, D, and E were exposed to smoke from a completely burnt 1.0g marijuana (Cannabis sativa) wrapped with 0.5g of cigarette wrapper once/day, twice/day and thrice/day respectively. The duration of exposure in all the groups was for seven and fourteen days for acute and chronic respectively. The animals were then anesthetized, sacrificed and the livers were obtained from each animal and transferred directly to 10% formal saline for histopathological analysis using Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stain. The weights were also taken at baseline and during the treatment. The results showed that there was a significant increase (p<0.05) in the body weight of wistar rats treated with marijuana (Cannabis sativa) (group C, D and E) when compared with control rats (A and B). In the liver tissue of the rats in the control groups (A and B), the histological profile of the livers was preserved, whereas in groups C, D and E the histological outline of the liver tissues obtained revealed disruptive characteristics such as distortion with inflammatory cell, mild sinusoidal congestion and moderate portals congestion and basophilic hepatocytes. Data obtained from this study show that exposure to the smoke extract of marijuana (Cannabis sativa) on the liver have deleterious effects on the cytoarchitecture of these organs in wistar rats. This therefore indicates that Cannabis sativa and its constituents are possible hepatotoxic substances.