Basic and Clinical 185 March & April 2024, Vol 15, No. 2 Research Paper Environmental Effect of High-voltage Towers on the Cerebellum and Cognitive Impairments in the Monkey Hamed Aliyari 1 , Hedayat Sahraei 2 , Mohammad Bagher Menhaj 3 , Masoomeh Kazemi 2 , Behrooz Vahidi 3 , Seyed Hossein Hosseinian 3* 1. Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States. 2. Neuroscience Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 3. Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Electrical, Computer & Biomedical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. * Corresponding Author: Seyed Hossein Hosseinian, Professor. Address: Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Electrical, Computer & Biomedical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: Introduction: Today, high-voltage (HV) lines create a pernicious environment for humans living or working in the vicinity and even under these lines. The male rhesus monkey is used to investigate the effects of fields produced by HV towers. This study examines the function and level of impact in rhesus monkeys’ brains from the cerebellum’s cognitive, biological, and structural perspective. Methods: Two monkeys have been used, one as a control and the second as a test. The monkey under test was subjected to a simulated HV electrical field of 3 kV/m, 4 hours a day, for 1 month. Behavioral tests were performed using a device designed and built for this purpose. Concentration analysis of adrenocorticotropic hormones (ACTH) and inspection of glucocorticoid receptor gene’s (GR) expression were performed by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method. Changes in cerebellar anatomy were examined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). All tests were performed before and after the study period and compared with the control monkey. Results: Cognitive tests showed a significant reduction for the monkey exposed to the HV electrical field in the first week after imposition compared with the same time before. Also, the expression of the GR gene decreased, and the concentration of ACTH hormone in plasma increased. Surveying the level of cerebral MRI images did not show any difference, but hemorrhage was evident in a part of the cerebellum. Conclusion: The tested monkey’s cognitive, biological, and MRI results showed a decrease in visual learning and memory indices. Article info: Received: 01 Jan 2021 First Revision: 22 Feb 2021 Accepted: 12 Apr 2021 Available Online: 01 Mar 2024 Keywords: Cerebellum, Memory, Monkey, Learning, Rhesus, Elecromagnetic fields Citation Aliyari, H., Sahraei, H., Menhaj, M. B., Kazemi, M., Vahidi, B., & Hosseinian, S. H. (2024). Environmental Effect of High-voltage Towers on the Cerebellum and Cognitive Impairments in the Monkey. Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, 15(2), 185-198. http://dx.doi.org/10.32598/bcn.2021.1340.5 http://dx.doi.org/10.32598/bcn.2021.1340.5 Use your device to scan and read the article online A B S T R A C T Copyright © 2024 The Author(s); Publisher by Iran University Medical Sciences This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.