Evidence implicating dentate granule cells in wet dog shakes produced by kindling stimulations of entorhinal cortex

We studied the occurrence of wet dog shakes during the evolution of kindling induced by electrical stimulation of the lateral entorhinal cortex. Wet dog shakes occur with high incidence, particularly early in development of kindling. We also demonstrated that microinjection of colchicine into the hippocampus, but not into neocortex, produced a 95% suppression of wet dog shakes. We propose that the suppressive effect of colchicine is mediated by destruction of dentate granule cells. Together with evidence from other investigations, these data support the idea that activation of hippocampal neurons is essential for production of wet dog shakes induced by stimulation of the limbic system.