en Clinical Neuroscience Clinical Neuroscience Original Original <p align="left" ><p>　</p><p align="justify"><b><font color="#221e1f" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" size="2">Introduction: </font></font></b></p><p align="justify"><b><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">Previous studies have suggested that the cerebellum is a primary site of motor learning. The cerebellar cortex has a particular glial architecture with </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">large astroglial cells. In addition, more recent works have revealed that astrocytes </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">play a more active role in neuronal activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">the number of astrocytes in the molecular layer of rat's cerebellum after spatial </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">learning. </font></font></font><b><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"></font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">21 male albino wistar rats were used in this study. Reference and </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">working memory methods of Morris Water Maze (MWM) were used. Following </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">behavioral testing, animals were decapitated under diethyl ether anesthesia. </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">Brains were removed and fixed for 2 weeks for histological assessment. Finally, 7 μm thick coronal slices were cut and stained with PTAH staining for showing </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">the astrocytes. </font></font></font><b><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><p align="justify"><font size="3">Results:</font> </p></font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">Our results showed a significant difference in the number of astrocytes between the control, reference and working memory groups. On the other hand, the number of astrocytes in the working memory group was more than the other </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">groups. There was no difference in density of astrocytes between the lateral and </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">medial parts of the cerebellum in any group. It seems that the distribution of </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">astrocytes in the lateral and medial parts of cerebellum is similar. </font></font></font><b><font color="#221e1f" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" size="2"><p><font size="3">Discussion:</font> </p></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">We concluded that spatial learning such as reference or working </font></font></font><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#221e1f" face="Times New Roman,Times New Roman" size="2">memory methods, can increase the number of astrocytes in the cerebellum and this increase is similar in the cerebellar cortex. </font></font></font></b></b></b></b><p></p></p><p align="justify"><font size="3">Methods:</font> </p> Cerebellum,Astrocytes,Spatial Learning 16 21 http://bcn.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-95&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mehrdad Jahanshahi 1370031947532846001414 1370031947532846001414 Yes Yousef Sadeghi 1370031947532846001415 1370031947532846001415 No Ahmad Hosseini 1370031947532846001416 1370031947532846001416 No Naser Naghdi 1370031947532846001417 1370031947532846001417 No Mohammad Jafar Golalipour 1370031947532846001418 1370031947532846001418 No