Reproductive System & Sexual Disorders: Current Research
Open Access

Abstract

Effect of Ethanolic Extract of Cannabis sativa on Progesterone and Estrogen Hormones in Female Wistar Rats

Chioma Okereke and Samuel Onuoha

Cannabis sativa have been suggested to disrupt the normal ovulatory cycle and hormonal secretion in animals. In this study, we investigated the changes in progesterone and estrogen levels in female Wistar rats as a result of oral administration of ethanolic extract of C. sativa for 7, 14 and 21 days consecutively. A total of 18 female rats were used and selectively divided into three groups (A, B and C) based on their body weight. Group A was control group while Group B and C were test groups and were given 200 ml and 400 ml/kg body weight of the extract respectively. At the end of each week, blood sample was collected from the various groups and subjected to estrogen and progesterone hormonal assay. The estrogen levels observed in Groups B and C were 6.33 ± 5.30 and 2.23 ± 1.07 respectively after 21 days. At the end of the experiment, a significant reduction in progesterone and estrogen levels was observed in the test groups. The present findings demonstrate that medium term (21 days) treatment of female rat with ethanolic extract of Cannabis sativa results to a significant decrease in progesterone and estrogen levels thereby leading to female sexual dysfunction directly or indirectly.