Toxic Effect of Khat in Rat Embryos and Fetuses

Table 2

Embryonic circulatory and auditory system development following treatment of pregnant rats with khat: day 12 experiment.

Treatment group	Percent retarded development
	Yolk sac	Heart	Otic system
Control	0	0	2.6
K250	0	1.7	2.6
K500	8.5^a,b	3.4	7.8^a,b
K750	5.6^a,b	10^a,b	12.2^a,b
Ad libitum control	0	0	2.2

K250: khat extract 250 mg/kg; K500: khat extract 500 mg/kg; K750: khat extract 250 mg/kg; results are summarized as percentages of retarded development; ^a,bsignificantly different () from ad libitum control and pair-fed control groups; chi-square.