effect of memantine on expression of nat-rad18, rad18 and sorl1 genes in rat model of alzheimer's disease

Background and objective: dysregulation of long-term expression of non-coding rnas (lncrnas) has a potential role in progressive brain disorders such as alzheimer’s disease. this study aimed to analyze the apoptosis and expression of 51a and nat-rad18 lncrnas and their target genes in brain tissue and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) of the rat model of ad, before and after memantine treatment.materials and methods: twenty-eight male wistar rats were divided into four groups: 1. normal control (n = 4), 2. sham-operated (n = 4), 3. alzheimer’s control (n = 10), and 4. the experimental group (n = 10) was treated with memantine. the qpcr and tunel tests were used to detect the lncrnas expression and apoptosis.results: sorl1 gene was reduced in brain tissue of alzheimer’s control (p = 0.016) and pbmcs of alzheimer’s control and experimental groups (p = 0.002 and p = 0.001 respectively). the expression of nat-rad18 and rad18 genes increased in brain tissue of alzheimer’s control group (p = 0.002 and p = 0.04 respectively) while reduced in pbmcs of alzheimer’s control and experimental groups (p = 0.005 and p = 0.045 for nat-rad18, p = 0.01 and p = 0.006 for rad18).conclusion: roc curve analysis showed 100% sensitivity and 85.7% specificity for the sorl1 gene with 0.911 under the curve area and 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for nat-rad18 and rad18, separately with one under the curve area. decreased expression in sorl1, nat-rad18, and rad18 genes can be used as blood biomarkers for diagnosis independently. however, studies on alzheimer’s patients are needed.