Acute oral toxicity of Cannabis sativa L. co-products in mice

Abstract

Cannabis sativa L. commonly known as ‘Kif’, is a medicinal plant belonging to the Cannabaceae family (Cannabis genus). It is used in traditional folk medicine to treat several diseases. The recent legalization of cannabis use for medicinal, cosmetic, and industrial purpose in Morocco (law 13.21), has enabled us to assess the potential acute toxicity of extract from its female plant co-products in Swiss mice. In this experimentation, 3 different extraction methods (maceration, decoction, and sonication) were used to determine the efficacy of cannabis extracts and investigate their acute toxicity in mice over a period of 14 days. Decoction showed the highest efficacy (19.7%), followed by maceration (16.2%), and finally sonication (5.4%). Regarding the toxicity results of the oral gavage administration dose at 2,000 mg kg-1, there were no recorded deaths and no changes in the internal organs (kidneys and liver) between treated and control groups of both male and female mice. We also found that body weight of female mice treated by decoction and maceration extracts decreased significantly compared to those treated with sonication extract throughout the experimental period, when treated and untreated male mice show no significant changes (p-value < 0.05). Our findings suggest that the LD50 may be greater than 2.000 mg kg-1. Nevertheless, the extracts showed signs of low-level toxicity such as drowsiness, hypoactivity, and tachycardia. Further studies to determine the phytochemical composition of the three extracts of C. sativa and assess the chronic and sub-chronic toxicity should be carried out.