Figure 1

Age-dependent, progressive decline in the Novel Object Recognition (NOR) task performance in Aldh2 ^-/- mice. Male and female mice were subjected to the NOR task once per month beginning at three months of age, and the frequency of visits to the objects and the time spent exploring each object was recorded. A and B. Frequency of visits to the novel and familiar objects for wildtype mice (A) and Aldh2 ^-/- mice (B). (C). Ratio of time spent with the novel object in relation to the familiar object. (D). Discrimination index. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (wildtype n = 18, Aldh2 ^-/- n = 17) and were analyzed by two-way ANOVA with a Bonferroni post-hoc test. In A and B, ***, significant difference to the novel object (p < 0.001). In C and D, *, significant difference from wildtype as indicated (*p < 0.05, **, P < 0.01, ***p < 0.001); ^ψψψ, significant difference from 3.5-4 month old Aldh2 ^-/- mice (p < 0.001).