In-vitro and in-vivo supportive research on medicinal properties of Cannabis sativa: A comprehensive review

Abstract

Cannabis sativa is an herbaceous plant which is mainly used as a remedy for neurological, digestive and immunological ailments in traditional medicine. Even though Cannabis is the most illicit plant around the world, its medicinal properties are beneficial in number of ways. Numerous beneficial effects of C. sativa have been demonstrated in multiple in-vitro and in-vivo studies from different parts of the world. The aim of this paper was to systematically review the literature and provide a summary on potential medicinal benefits of C. sativa. This systematic review was conducted by using the data bases; Science direct and PubMed for studies published from 1st of January 2015 to 31st of October 2020. In order to obtain further data, a manual search was also carried out from the reference lists of included articles. After removing the duplicate articles 77 total number of articles included in this present review. The beneficial health effects of C. sativa were anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-microbial, anti-parasitic, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties. In addition, it revealed that C. sativa lower blood glucose, serum cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Apart from that, the use of Cannabis in other diseases such as irritable bowel disease, renal diseases, neurofibromatosis, and leucorrhea was also identified. The wide range of medicinal effects may be due to main active ingredients of Tetrahydro cannabinol, Cannabidiol, Cannabinol and Tetrahydro cannabivarin. Available in-vitro and invivo evidence suggested that C. sativa has many favorable health effects and further randomized controlled clinical trials will be needed to determine these effects thoroughly.