Altered long noncoding RNA expressions in dorsal root ganglion after rat sciatic nerve injury

► 105 lncRNAs are differentially expressed at 4 times after rat sciatic nerve injury. ► Potential targets of 24 down-regulated lncRNAs are correlated with the growth capacity of neurons. ► Silencing of lncRNA BC089918 by siRNAs promotes neurite outgrowth of DRG neurons. Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons spontaneously undergo robust neurite growth after axotomy. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are an important class of pervasive genes involved in a variety of biological functions. However, the functions of lncRNAs in the regulation of responses of DRG neurons to injury stimuli remain untested. Here, lncRNA microarray analysis was performed to profile the lncRNAs in L4–L6 DRGs following rat sciatic nerve resection. The 105 lncRNAs were identified to be differentially expressed at 0, 1, 4, 7 d post injury. A coexpression network of 24 down-regulated lncRNAs and coding genes was constructed, and 115 targets of these 24 lncRNAs were found to be mainly involved in cell phenotype modulation, including glial cell migration, purinergic nucleotide receptor signaling pathway, vasodilation, regulation of multi-organism process, and neuropeptide signaling pathway, and also to be potentially associated with several key regeneration signaling pathways, including MAPK signaling pathway, and neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction. LncRNA BC089918 was selected from 24 down-regulated lncRNAs for validation by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization. And silencing of BC089918 with small interfering RNAs indicted that the lncRNA had a particular promoting effect on neurite outgrowth. Our data demonstrated a distinct involvement of lncRNAs in DRGs after nerve injury, thus contributing to illustration of molecular mechanisms responsible for nerve regeneration.