The Impact of Marijuana (

Background: Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effects of Methods: Human cardiomyocytes (HCMs) were cultured and subsequently exposed to varying concentrations of cannabis extract. Cell viability was assessed using the MTT assay, and morphological changes were examined on days 3 and 6. Growth curves and population doubling times were determined over a 6-day period using the trypan blue exclusion method. In addition, the expression levels of cardiac-specific markers, including GATA4, troponin, and creatine kinase, were quantified using real-time polymerase chain reaction on days 1, 3, and 6. Results: No significant changes in cell morphology were observed; however, cell density was consistently higher in the treated group, particularly at early time points. Growth-curve analysis confirmed these findings, demonstrating higher cell numbers in treated cultures throughout the study period, consistent with the population doubling time data (74.79 h in the treated group vs. 80.45 h in the control group, P = 0.005). Furthermore, the treated group exhibited increased expression of cardiac-specific markers compared with the controls, most notably between day 1 and day 3 (GATA4: 7.97 ± 1.06 vs. 1.48 ± 0.64, P < 0.05; troponin: 3.52 ± 0.85 vs. 1.13 ± 0.92, P = 0.05; creatine kinase: 0.001 ± 0.0008 vs. 1.22 ± 0.90, P = 0.05). Conclusions: