Physiological Responses to Fasting in Bats

Ben-Hamo, Miriam; Muñoz‐Garcia, Agustí; Pinshow, Berry

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-29056-5_16

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 106 publications

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“…In frugivorous bats, hepatocytes frequently contain varying amounts of glycogen (Ben-Hamo et al, 2012), resulting in feathery vacuolation of the cytoplasm. The distribution of the glycogen is usually diffuse but it may sometimes have a more patchy or zonal appearance.…”

Section: Unique Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chiroptera

Farina

Lankton

2018

Pathology of Wildlife and Zoo Animals

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FIGURE 25.2 Normal patagium, Pteropus vampyrus. The patagium consists of two thin layers of epidermis separated by collagen, vessels, and bundles of elastic fibers. FIGURE 25.1 FIGURE 25.4 Normal brain, Pteropus hypomelanus. The brain is largely lissencephalic, with rare shallow sulci. (Photo Courtesy of E. Kieran, University of Florida) FIGURE 25.5 Iron overload in the liver, Rousettus aegyptiacus. (A) Bridging fibrosis with iron overload. Abundant brown pigment is present within and at the margins of the connective tissue. (B) Abundant hemosiderin is present in macrophages at the margins of and within the fibrous connective tissue, with lesser amounts in hepatocytes, bile ducts, and Kupffer cells. Prussian blue.

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Section: Unique Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chiroptera

Farina

Lankton

2018

Pathology of Wildlife and Zoo Animals

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“…Vertebrates that consume different diets often differ in the way they store and mobilize body energy reserves, and therefore it is expected different species to have different responses to fasting. Although bats have the largest variety of diets among all mammalian orders, data on physiological responses to fasting in bats are restricted to a few frugivorous, insectivorous and hematophagous species (Ben-Hamo et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low energy reserves are associated with fasting susceptibility in Neotropical nectar bats Glossophaga soricina

et al. 2019

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Neotropical nectar-feeding bats consume large amounts of sugar and use most of their energy-rich diet directly from the bloodstream, suggesting an adaptation towards lower body energy reserves. Here we tested the hypothesis that bats Glossophaga soricina spare the energy costs of storing energy reserves, even if this would represent a risky susceptibility during fasting. Blood glucose concentrations in 18 h fasted bats showed a 40% decrease. Breast muscle and adipose tissue lipids, as well as carcass fatty acids and liver glycogen, were also decreased following fasting. The inability to keep normoglycemia following a short-term fasting (i.e. 28 h) confirm that nectar bats invest little on storing energy reserves and show a severe fasting susceptibility associated to this pattern. Our study also support the general hypothesis that evolutionary specializations towards nectar diets involve adaptations to allow a decreased body mass, which reduces the energy costs of flight while increases foraging time.

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“…Higher δ 13 C values found in B 720 samples might indicate the use of glycogen, but phyllostomid frugivorous bats use lipid reserves initially during fasting and resort to glycogen oxidation only after several days (>6 d) of food restriction (Ben‐Hamo et al . ). Experimental studies using breath stable isotope analysis illustrate the complexity of reconstructing energy substrate in fasting bats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Columnar cacti as sources of energy and protein for frugivorous bats in a semi‐arid ecosystem

M.¹,

R.²

2016

Biotropica

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Columnar cacti constitute the dominant elements in the vegetation structure of arid and semi‐arid New World ecosystems representing a plethora of food resources for vertebrate consumers. Previous stable isotope analysis in Central Mexico showed that columnar cacti are of low importance to build tissue for frugivorous bats. We used carbon stable isotope analysis of whole blood and breath samples collected from four species of frugivorous bats (Sturnira parvidens, Sturnira ludovici, Artibeus jamaicensis, and Artibeus intermedius) to reconstruct the importance of cactus plants in their diet. Breath samples were collected within 10 min (B10) of bat capture and ~12 h after capture (B720), representing the oxidation of recently ingested food and of body reserves, respectively. We expected that bats relied primarily on non‐cactus food to construct tissues and fuel oxidative metabolism. Non‐cactus food strongly predominated for tissue building, whereas oxidative metabolism was supported by a moderate preponderance of non‐cactus food for B10 samples, and a moderate preponderance of cactus food or an equal contribution of both sources for B720 samples. Artibeus and Surnira species appear to cover a narrow part of the diet with cactus food, confirming that the incorporation of nutrients derived from these plants is not generalized among vertebrate consumers.

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Physiological Responses to Fasting in Bats

Cited by 7 publications

References 106 publications

Chiroptera

Chiroptera

Low energy reserves are associated with fasting susceptibility in Neotropical nectar bats Glossophaga soricina

Columnar cacti as sources of energy and protein for frugivorous bats in a semi‐arid ecosystem

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