Effect of Prenatal and Perinatal Cannabis Exposure on Hyperactivity Behavior of Albino Rats

The issue of substance abuse has become rampant among pregnant women especially in countries where it has been legalized (such as Uruguay, Canada, California e.t.c) which therefore, they misuse substances (such as cannabis and alcohol) for the purpose of reducing pain, stress relief and anxiety. This led to the study investigating the impact of substance use (Cannabis and Alcohol) during pregnancy on hyperactivity of the offsprings using albino rats controlling for the influence of weight. Three (3) albino rats were used for the experiments weighing 180-250g. Albino rats were randomly assigned to 3 study groups (i.e 2 experimental groups and a control group). Experimental group 1 were subjected to cannabis, experimental group 2 were subjected to the combination of cannabis and alcohol while the control group were subjected to no form of intervention or treatment. The rats were aclimatized for 7 days. The statistical tools used is Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA) used to determine hypothesis 1, t-test of independent sample to determine hypothesis 2, Scheffe post hoc analysis was also used to determine the effect size of the F-value (intervention) on the study groups. Also, Pairwise Comparison was used to determine the correlation between the study groups. Study outcome revealed that cannabis and alcohol had significant effect on hyperactivity of the offsprings (F(2, 15) = 63.48, p < .001, η² = .894) controlling for the influence of the body weight of the offsprings of the rats. Furthermore, post hoc analysis revealed that albino rats in experimental groups shows more hyperactive behavior (Experimental Group 1 (M = 92.57, SD = 9.98) and Experimental Group 2 with (M = 105.33, SD = 18.10). When compared with the control group (M = 29.50, SD = 5.17). It was then concluded that substance use (Cannabis and Alcohol) during pregnancy had significant effects on hyperactivity of the offsprings which may predispose the offsprings to a certain disorder known as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It was therefore recommended that the issue of substance use should be curbed immediately. Keywords: Hyperactivity, Cannabis, Alcohol, Albino rats, Body weight