ABSTRACT
The present study is aimed at ascertaining the effect of oral feeding of Cannabis sativa on blood parameters and immunity in rats. Administration of Cannabis sativa was done by orogastric feeding. All the groups had free access to water and food. The experiment lasted for 28 days. At the end of the 28 days of feeding, we observed that the mean red blood cell count was 5.68±0.09 x 106/mm3, 5.90±0.04 x 106 mm3 and 6.38 ±0.22 x 106 mm3 for control, low dose (LD) and high dose (HD) respectively. The red blood cells count in high dose was significantly higher (P<0.05) than low dose and control (P<0.01) respectively. However there was no significant difference between control and low dose. The total white blood cell count for control, LD and HD groups was 2.26±0.13 x 103/mm3, 1.69±0.04 x 103 mm3 and 1.58±0.09 x 103mm3 respectively. There was however no significant difference between the LD and HD even though both test groups were each significantly (P<0.001) lower than control. There was no significant difference in the pack cell volume (PCV) among the groups. The haemoglobin concentration (Hb) did not show any significant difference between LD and HD, but between the control and HD there was significantly higher (P<0.05) Hb concentration in HD. The mean platelet count for control, LD and HD were 252±14.94 x 103/mm3, 364±7.47 x 103/mm3 and 424±7.47 x 103/mm3 respectively. Both experimental group were each significantly higher (P<0.001) than control group. Platelet in the high dose was significantly higher (P<0.01) than in the low dose. In the differential count, the lymphocytes, monocytes and neutrophils were significantly (P<0.001) reduced in high and low dose groups when compared with control. Eosinophils and basophils increased significantly (P<0.001) in both high and low dose groups when compared with control. Mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) showed a significant increase (P<0.05) in the high dose when compared with control but mean corpuscular Hb was unaffected.