Microscopic study on the effect of total cannabis extract on the developing liver of chick embryo

ABSTRACT

Total Cannabis extract was injected through the shell of fertilized chick eggs as a single dose of 1mg/egg on day 4 or day 9 of incubation. Ten days later the embryos were extracted and the liver specimens were collected and processed for light and electron microscopic examination. The results revealed that the mortality rate was higher among the younger age group [14th day after incubation] as compared with the elder one [19th day after incubation]. Disturbances in the hepatic architecture, presence of massive necrotic areas and degenerative changes associated with inflammatory infiltrative cells were the resultant effects encountered with cannabis injection on the 4th day of incubation. The liver of embryos from eggs injected by cannabis on the 9th day of incubation showed vast changes in the form of delayed development, lymphocyte infiltration, granulomatous formation and subcapsular as well as interstitial haemorrhage. The electron microscopic examination of the liver of the chick embryo injected with cannabis on the 9th day of incubation revealed histological changes in the form of hypertrophy of the microvilli of the hepatocytes, loss of combination between the fat globules and lysosomes within the hepatocytes, apparent increase in the endothelial gaps of the blood sinusoids and hypertrophy of von-Kupffer cells. Possible mechanisms of cannabis induced histopatholoogical changes in the developing liver of the chick embryo are discussed