Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of different levels of vitamin A deficiency(VAD)on the growth and development of female rats and their embryos.Methods Weaning female SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups,VA deficient group(AD),VA marginally deficient group(AM),VA normal group(AN).3 groups were fed different levels of VA.After being fed 50 days for depleting the VA store in body,the female rats copulated with male rats.All the copulated rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:VA deficient group(A),VA supplement group(B),VA marginally deficient group (C),VA marginally deficient supplement group(D).Both the B and D groups were fed VA-supplement diet at embryonic day 0(E0).All the rats were sacrificed at E19.5.Results The growth and development of AD group was seriously retarded and some of them could not reproduce normally while the group AM was normal.All the embryos in group A were resorbted.The embryos with smaller size,malformation,early death were significanthigher in group C compared with AN and supplement groups(B,D).Conclusion Serious VAD can inhibit the growth and development of female rats and prevent their maturity and reproduction,and its malformation and lethality of embryo were notable.The supplement of VA can decrease the malformation and lethality of embryos during pregnancy.