Altered glyoxalase 1 expression in psychiatric disorders: cause or consequence?

Glyoxalase 1 is an enzyme, shown to protect against dicarbonyl glycation and the formation of advanced glycation end products. Recent findings suggest glyoxalase 1 as a molecular marker of psychiatric disorders. In clinical studies aberrant expression of glyoxalase 1 was shown to be involved in major depression, panic disorders and schizophrenia. In mouse models glyoxalase 1 was identified as a molecular marker of trait anxiety. However, anxiety-related behaviour in mice was inconsistently reported to correlate with elevated or reduced expression of glyoxalase 1. As yet, those findings were considered contradicting and the contribution of glyoxalase 1 to the aetiology of psychiatric disorders remained elusive. This review summarizes recent clinical and animal studies. In order to unravel the role of glyoxalase 1 in mental disease, findings are discussed with a particular focus on dicarbonyl substrate concentration. Prevailing the impact of dicarbonyl substrates on anxiety-related behaviour over the influence of glyoxalase 1 expression may consolidate findings that have been considered inconsistent. Taken together, this report suggests that physiological concentration of dicarbonyl compounds may differentiate a remedy from a poison.