EN
Cannabidiol (CBD), the major non-psychoactive compound of Cannabis has been reported to display neuroprotective, anti-infl ammatory, and anti-tumor actions. Despite growing interest in pharmacological effects of CBD, there is no data concerned with the effects of CBD on body weight, food intake or metabolism. The present study examined whether CBD administration affects body weight, during 13 days of systemic CBD treatment. Adult male Wistar rats (n=54), weighing approximately 250 ± 20 g at the beginning of the experiment received intraperitoneal injections of CBD at dose of 2.5 or 5 mg/kg/day, or the vehicle, for 13 consecutive days. The animals were weighed each day 2 h before each injection. Body weight on the fi rst day of treatment served as baseline (100%), then in following 13 days percentage body weight gains were calculated. Repeated CBD administration signifi cantly slowed body weight gains. Two-way ANOVA revealed signifi cant difference between weight gains of rats receiving CBD and the control group (P<0.0001).Rats receiving CBD at dose of 5 mg/kg gained, on average, 8.0 ± 0.9 g (SEM) less weight than control animals, which is 19.6% of total weight gain of controls during that period. Mean body weight gain of rats receiving 2.5 mg/kg of CBD was 6.8 ± 0.9 g lower than controls (16.6% of total weight gain of controls).The results indicate that CBD administered in low doses lowers body weight gain. The data suggest that CBD may affect food intake or metabolism