title: Neural network assessment of herbal protection against chemotherapeutic-induced reproductive toxicity.
abstract: The aim of this study is to assess the protective effects of Ginkgo biloba's (GB) extract against chemotherapeutic-induced reproductive toxicity using a data mining tool, namely Neural Network Clustering (NNC) on two types of data: biochemical & fertility indicators and Texture Analysis (TA) parameters. GB extract (1 g/kg/day) was given orally to male albino rats for 26 days. This period began 21 days before a single cisplatin (CIS) intraperitoneal injection (10 mg/kg body weight). GB given orally significantly restored reproductive function. Tested extract also notably reduced the CIS-induced reproductive toxicity, as evidenced by restoring normal morphology of testes. In GB, the attenuation of CIS-induced damage was associated with less apoptotic cell death both in the testicular tissue and in the sperms. CIS-induced alterations of testicular lipid peroxidation were markedly improved by the examined plant extract. NNC has been used for classifying animal groups based on the quantified biochemical & fertility indicators and microscopic image texture parameters extracted by TA. NNC showed the separation of two clusters and the distribution of groups among them in a way that signifies the dose-dependent protective effect of GB. The present study introduces the neural network as a powerful tool to assess both biochemical and histopathological data. We also show here that herbal protection against CIS-induced reproductive toxicity utilizing classic methodologies is validated using neural network analysis.
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, UAE University, University St, Al-Ain 17551, UAE. a.amin@uaeu.ac.ae
authors.forename: Amr
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.forename: Doaa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mahmoud-Ghoneim
authors.forename: Muhammed I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Syam
authors.forename: Sayel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Daoud
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000633:toxicity*; D020441:Ginkgo biloba / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000187:drug effects; D013737:Testis / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts