C-LTMRs evoke wet dog shakes via the spinoparabrachial pathway

Abstract

Many hairy mammals perform rapid oscillations of their body, called wet dog shakes, to remove water and irritants from their back hairy skin. The somatosensory mechanisms that underlie this behavior are unclear. We report that Piezo2-dependent mechanosensation mediates wet dog shakes evoked by water or oil droplets applied to back hairy skin of mice. Unmyelinated C-fiber low-threshold mechanoreceptors (C-LTMRs) were activated by oil droplets, and their optogenetic activation elicited wet dog shakes. Ablation of C-LTMRs attenuated this behavior. Moreover, C-LTMRs synaptically couple to spinoparabrachial neurons, and optogenetically inhibiting spinoparabrachial neuron synapses and excitatory neurons in the parabrachial nucleus impaired both oil droplet– and C-LTMR–evoked wet dog shakes. Thus, a C-LTMR–spinoparabrachial pathway promotes wet dog shakes for removal of water and mechanical irritants from back hairy skin.