Embryotoxicity of harmaline and harmalol hydrochloride on pregnant rats

Peganum harmala alkaloiods are biologically active compounds. they were used as spices and hallucinogens. harmaline and harmalol hydrochloride were tested for their possible embryolethal effects on wistar pregnant rats. one hundred and twelve mature rats of both sexes were used in this study. in the first experiment,females were given ip injection of 5 and 10 mg/kg of the two compounds for 14 days starting from the first day of gestation. in the second experiment,males were given ip injection of 10 mg/kg of the two compounds for 21 days and mated with untreated females for three weeks. numbers of live,dead and resorbed fetuses in addition to skeletal variations were recorded. a remarkable increase in maternal body weight and food intake was noticed in the higher dosages of the first experiment. increase in the average number of resorbed or dead fetuses was found in the first experiment and the first week mating of the second experiment. a significant decrease in fetal body weight was shown in all dose levels of the two experiments. skeletal variations were shown in all groups of the two experiments. the study demonstrated that harmala alkaloids are toxic to rat embryos resulted in fetal mortality,decreasing fetal body weight and enhancing skeletal anomalies.