Abstract
The present study was performed to evaluate the teratogenic effects of imipramine HCl on the chick embryogenesis. Imipramine was injected into the chick eggs with doses ranging from 0.01 to 0.16 mg per embryo at the 2nd and 3rd day of incubation (groups A and B). All the embryos treated as well as controls, were studied on the 7th day of incubation. The percent survival in the experimental embryos ranged from 85 to 10. The LD50 for the embryos treated on the 2nd and 3rd day (groups A and B) was 0.07 and 0.10 mg per embryo, respectively. In all, 840 eggs were utilized for this investigation. Macroscopic observations on the experimental embryos (groups A and B) revealed micromelia, shortened beak, short and twisted neck, exencephaly, eventration and reduced body size. Most of the embryos of group A showed unilateral and bilateral microphthalmia. The microphthalmia ranged from moderate to severe. The results of this study indicate that imipramine has toxic effects on the developing chick embryos.