Research into the potential medical uses of cannabidiol (CBD) has attracted great interest from the scientific community, especially in recent years. Cannabidiol has been shown to be therapeutically effective in severe epileptic diseases in children, such as Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes. The use of CBD is expanding worldwide to treat a variety of diseases, but its effectiveness is not always supported by scientific research. The aim of the study was to determine the histological features and conduct a morphometric analysis of the vessels of the liver microcirculatory bed on the 14th day of experimental exposure to a 10% solution of cannabidiol oil.

Methods. The studies were performed on 20 white outbred male rats weighing 180–230 g, aged 5–7 months at the beginning of the experiment in accordance with the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals Used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes (Strasbourg, 1986), Council Directive 2010/63/EU, and Law of Ukraine No. 3447-IV «On the Protection of Animals from Cruelty». The experimental group consisted of 14 rats that were orally drip-fed a 10 % solution of CBD oil (dose – 10 mg/kg/day) daily for 2 weeks. The control group consisted of 6 sexually mature white male rats. Liver tissue samples were used as the study material. Histological, immunohistochemical, and morphometric studies of the components of the vascular compartment of the liver lobules were performed. Statistical calculations were performed using Microsoft Office Excel. The significance of the difference between the parameters of the study and control groups was tested using the Mann-Whitney test (U). The difference was considered statistically significant at a minimum significance level of p < 0.05.

Results. The histological, immunohistochemical and morphometric experimental study of the effect on the liver of a 10 % solution of CBD oil at a dose of 10 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks as a dietary supplement revealed that the structural organisation of the liver did not undergo pathological changes, the microscopic structure of the components of the vascular compartment did not differ from the control group. Morphometric analysis of the vessels of the liver microcirculatory bed after 2 weeks of experimental exposure to CBD showed the absence of significant changes in the average diameters compared to the control group, indicating the safety of using a 10 % solution of CBD oil at a dose of 10 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks.

Conclusions. Although cannabinoids have an important therapeutic potential, further experimental studies of the effects of CBD on the liver over a longer period are needed to determine the morphological organisation of the vascular compartment components, possible adverse effects on the liver, assess long-term effects, and to possibly predict the optimal use of CBD for humans.

Keywords: Cannabidiol, CBD, liver, microcirculatory bed, histology, immunohistochemistry, morphometry

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