Temporal effects of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate on memory formation in day-old chicks

Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) has been shown to enhance memory retention in different animal models and in various learning paradigms. In the present study, we investigated the effect of peripherally administered DHEAS on the acquisition, consolidation and retention of memory using a weak version of the one-trial passive avoidance task in day-old chicks. Intraperitoneally administered DHEAS (20 mg/kg) either 30 min before or 30 min and 4.5 h after training on the weakly aversive stimulus, enhanced recall at 24 h following training, suggesting a potentiation of not only the acquisition but also the early and late phases of memory consolidation. In contrast, when DHEAS was administered at 30 min prior to the 24 h retention test there was no memory enhancement, indicating a lack of effect on memory retrieval. Memory recall was unaltered when DHEAS was administered at 30 min before training in a control group trained on a strongly aversive stimulus, confirming memory-specific effects. Interestingly, the memory enhancement appeared to be sex-specific as male chicks showed higher recall than females. These findings provide further evidence that DHEAS enhances memory and may be involved in the temporal cascade of long-term memory formation.