Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 deficiency increases resting-state glutamate and expression of the GluN1 subunit of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor in the frontal cortex of mice

•Basal glutamate concentration in the frontal cortex dialysates was higher in Aldh2-KO mice than in WT mice.•Aldh2-KO mice also had higher GluN1 protein expression in the lipid raft fractions than WT mice.•No changes in the expression of GluA1 were detected in this region.

Our previous study showed that Aldh2-knockout (Aldh2-KO) mice, an animal model of inactive aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), have better spatial memory when compared with wild-type (WT) mice. Given that the neurotransmitter glutamate has been associated with learning and memory, the goal of the present study was to investigate whether the strain-dependent difference in spatial memory was associated with changes in glutamate transmitter levels or receptor function in the frontal cortex of Aldh2-KO and WT mice. Thus, we first measured extracellular glutamate levels in free-moving mice using microdialysis. Second, we studied protein expression of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor (GluN1) subunit and the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5 methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptor (GluA1) subunit in lipid raft fractions using Western blot (WB). The samples were collected for WB, and lipid rafts were prepared from the insoluble fraction of homogenate tissue. Protein concentration was measured in the whole cell lysate (WCL) and in five separate lipid raft fractions. Cholesterol was also measured in all fractions 1–5. The microdialysis study revealed that basal glutamate concentration in the dialysates was approximately three-fold (0.27 ± 0.12 μM) higher in Aldh2-KO mice than in WT (0.10 ± 0.03 μM) mice. We also found an increase in the expression of GluN1 in Aldh2-KO mice compared with WT mice, both in the WCL and fraction 5, but GluA1 levels were unchanged as measured by WB. Our novel findings provide the first evidence for the role of ALDH2 in glutamate release and GluN1 protein expression in the frontal cortex. The observed strain differences in glutamate levels and GluN1 expression may suggest that enhanced glutamatergic function facilitates improved spatial memory in Aldh2-KO mice and such observation deserves further investigation.