A.A Tijani - Department of Anatomy, College of Health Sciences, Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria
A.D Adedayo - Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
I.R Yetunde

This study was carried out in order to elucidate some of the effects of oral administration of Cannabis sativa on the visual system of male Wistar rats as marker of toxicity using neurohistochemical study. 12 adult male Wistar rats were used for this study. The rats were distributed into two groups (A and B). The rats in group A served as the treatment group and were administered with 300 mg/kg body weight of Cannabis sativa while the rats in group B which served as the control were administered with equal volume of phosphate buffered saline. The duration of administration was for 14d. The rats were sacrificed using cervical dislocation 24 hrs after the last administration. The brains were excised from the skulls of the animals and were completely fixed in 10% formol calcium. 72 hours after fixation, right occipital cortex, right lateral geniculate nucleus and right superior colliculus were excised separately for histological (H&E) processing. Microscopic observations made from the permanent photomicrographs revealed alterations in the histoarchitecture of the visual system of the rats in the treated group compared with the rats in the treated group with preserved histological outline. Oral administration of Cannabis sativa on the visual system of male Wistar rats caused neurodegeneration of the occipital cortex, right lateral geniculate nucleus and right superior colliculus of Wistar rats.

Cannabis sativ, Visual system, Occipital cortex, Neurohistochemical study