7 African Journal of Cellular Pathology 2:1:7-13 (2014) The Official Journal of the Society for Cellular Pathology Scientists of Nigeria www.ajcpath.com HISTOARCHITECTURAL ORGANIZATION OF THE VISUAL SYSTEM OF MALE RATS FOLLOWING ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF CRUDE AQUEOUS LEAF EXTRACT OF CANNABIS SATIVA Tijani AA 1 , Adekomi AD 2, 3 , Oyesomi TO 2 , Fawole OB 4 1. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Osun State University, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria 2. Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria 3. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria 4. Department of ENT Surgery, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso Oyo state, Nigeria Corresponding Author: TIJANI AA Email: ahmad.tijani@uniosun.edu.ng ABSTRACT Aim: This study was to elucidate some of the effects of oral administration of Cannabis sativa on the visual system of male Wistar rats. Methods: 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 (treatment group) were administered with 300 mg/kg body weight of Cannabis sativa while the rats in group B (control group) were administered with equal volume of phosphate buffered saline. The duration of administration was 21days. The rats were sacrificed using cervical dislocation 24 hours after the last administration. The brains were excised and fixed in 10% formol calcium. 72 hours after fixation, right occipital cortex, right lateral geniculate nucleus and right superior colliculus were excised respectively for histological processing and sections stained with H&E. Results: Microscopic observations revealed alterations in the histoarchitecture of the organs of visual system of the rats in the treated group compared with the rats in the control group with preserved histological outline. Conclusion: Oral administration of Cannabis on the visual system of male Wistar rats caused degeneration in the neurons of occipital cortex, right lateral geniculate nucleus and right superior colliculus of Wistar rats. Key words: Drug abuse, Vision, Cannabis sativa, Brain INTRODUCTION Cannabis, indigenous to central South Asia (ElSohly, 2007), is found to have occurred as long ago as the third millennium B.C as indicated by Charred Cannabis seeds found in ritual brazier at an ancient burial site in present day Romania (Rudgley, 1998). It is a coarse rangy, annual plant that grows 1.8-3.7 m in height with palmate leaves divided into 3-7 harrows and about 5.2-7.6cm long. Its stems are rough with fibrous inner bark. It is normally a dioecious species, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes bisexual plants occur (Steve, 2005). It thrives on rich, fertile, neutral to slightly alkaline, well