Bhang induced immunotoxicity among high school and university students in Egypt

ABSTRACT

The discovery of specific cannabinoid receptors in the immune system and a family of endogenous ligands of these receptors provides basis for understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cannabis-induced immunotoxicity. The present study was conducted on 90 non smoker males of high school and university students living in Tanta city of comparable age and socio-economic lifestyle. They were divided into, a control group [30 males] and a bhang user group [60 males], that used bhang by eating its sweetly juice after boiling with little water and drying in an oven, "fola". The bhang group was divided equally into 2 subgroups, subgroup I used bhang for 6-24 months [average 19 +/- 1.2] and subgroup 2 used bhang for 24 to 36 months [average 31 +/- 1.7]. The immunotoxic effects of using bhang appears in the form of significant decrease in serum immunoglobulins [IgG and 1gM], C3 and C4 complement protein concentrations [p<0.05]. In addition, our results demonstrated a significant decrease in absolute number of functionally different subsets of peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes, T and B lymphocytes and natural killer cells in bhang users as compared to controls [p<0.05]. Moreover, the fatty acid amide hydrolase [EAAH] showed significant decrease in bhang users as compared to controls and in subgroup 2 as compared to sub-group 1 [p < 0.05] indicating that the decrease in FAAH protein level is closely related to the duration of bhang use. Positive correlations were found between FAAH level and the absolute number of mononuclear cells [T, B lymphocytes and NK cells] among bhang user subgroups. The present study is the first study to report on the effect of bhang on complement proteins and immunoglobulins in humans. Our study revealed that bhang-induced immunotoxicty could be attributed to increased activity of cannabinoid receptors due to decrease in FAAH protein