The effects of chronic administration of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive component of marihuana, on embryogenesis were investigated in the mouse treated with THC prior to sexual maturation. The study was designed to imitate the prolonged abuse of marihuana by sexually immature and adolescent girls. Female Swiss-Webster mice were injected, intraperitoneally, with THC 5 mg/kg per day or with the vehicle for 21 consecutive days, starting on the 30th day of life, which is prior to their sexual maturation. The dose of THC was approximately equivalent to that absorbed by a man smoking 1 to 2 marihuana cigarettes per day. Superovulation was then induced, and the mice were mated with untreated males. Ova were recovered from the oviducts just prior to the first cleavage division, and at about the time of the second cleavage division. The incidence of degenerative ova increased from 13.6% in the controls to 19.1% in the THC-treated group (P < 0.001) at the time of the second cleavage division, but there was no difference in the incidence of morphologically abnormal ova between the two groups just prior to the first cleavage division. The rate of successful completion of the first cleavage division, but not the second cleavage division, was adversely affected by THC, resulting in accumulation of morphologically abnormal ova at the later stage.

In view of the known disruptive effect of THC on the process of cell division, it was postulated that THC might have adversely affected meiosis, leading to the inability of the ova to undergo the first cleavage division.