Vol. 3, Issue 9, Part F (2017)

Abstract
Cannabis preparations have been reported to have potential positive effects on retinal health and potential to ameliorate retinopathy or help in protecting the retina. This fact suggests that cannabis can improve vision health. A major component of cannabis that has been found to have such protective effects is cannabinoid. Cannabinoids have been demonstrated to have positive effects in lowering intraocular pressure, thus ameliorating or correcting glaucoma. It is thus very important to explore the potential use of cannabis preparation in correcting, ameliorating retinopathy. Research in this field are relatively sparse. To this end, the research involved testing the efficacy of various doses of cannabis ethanolic extract against sodium, iodate induced retinopathy in experimental animals. Thirty two Wistar rats were divided into four groups labelled: Group A, as the control group and the animals were fed ad libitum; Group B were administered a single dose of 50mg/kg body weight of sodium iodate to induce retinopathy; Group C were administrated lower dose of cannabis [200mg/kg body weight] while Group D were administered the higher dose of cannabis extract [500mg/kg body weight] after retinopathy was induced by a single dose of sodium iodate. Animals were treated as described for 12 days and thereafter sacrificed by cervical dislocation. The eyes were removed and processed for the H&E and the PAS histological and histochemical techniques respectively. Retinopathy, as induced resulted in retinal epithelial thinning; extensive loss of the ganglion layer of the retina; disruption of the pigment epithelium and relative distortion of the epithelial histoarchitecture. Cannabis could not effectively preserve the epithelium in the treated groups. Disruptions however were less extensive in the cannabis treated groups, to indicate that it had mild positive effects. Variation in dosage was not seen to produce significant difference in effects.