Alteration in the Expression of Alzheimer's-Related Genes in Rat Hippocampus by Exercise and Morphine Treatments

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder, which slowly eliminates memory and intellectual ability and eventually destroys the ability to carry out the simple tasks. β amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangles are two important signatures of this disease, which caused by mutant in Tau, BACE1, and APP genes. They could be important targets for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight adult male Wistar rats weighing 180-240 g were classified into four groups, including control, morphine treatment, exercise treatment, and both morphine and exercise groups. After RNA extraction from hippocampal tissues and cDNA synthesis, Real time PCR for evaluation of different expressions of BACE1 and APP genes were performed. Results: Data revealed that the expressions of BACE1 and APP significantly decreased during morphine and exercise treatment. Conclusion: The present study suggests the possible role of   morphine and exercise in treatment of Alzheimer's disease, possibly due to down-regulation of BACE1 and APP.