Intestinal disaccharides in five species of phyllostomoid bats

Hernández, Adriana Carolina; Rio, Carlos Martı́nez del

doi:10.1016/0305-0491(92)90420-v

Cited by 33 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…A proximal to distal gradient of intestinal hydrolase activities has also been observed for amphibians, birds and mammals (McCarthy et al, 1980: Martinez del Rio, 1990Hernandez and Martinez del Rio, 1992;Sabat et al, 2005). Similar decreases with position in mass-specific and length-specific rates of nutrient uptake have been documented for fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals (Karasov et al, 1985;Karasov et al, 1986;Buddington and Hilton, 1987;Buddington et al, 1991;Secor and Diamond, 2000;Secor, 2005a).…”

Section: Plasticity Of Intestinal Functionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Adaptive regulation of digestive performance in the genusPython

Ott

Secor

2007

Journal of Experimental Biology

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IntroductionThe integration of a species' ecology and physiology is exemplified in the adaptive interplay between their feeding ecology and digestive physiology (Karasov and Diamond, 1988;McWilliams et al., 1997;Secor, 2005a). A well-known example of this is the adaptive correlation between food habits (i.e. herbivory and carnivory) and the morphology and function of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The GI tract of herbivores is typically longer than that of carnivores and possesses specialized regions for the fermentation of plant material (Stevens and Hume, 1995;Karasov and Hume, 1997;Mackie, 2002). Equally apparent is how organisms are able to face routine fluctuations in the amount and type of food consumed due to seasonal changes in food availability, ontogenetic shifts in diet, reproductive status and alternating foraging and feeding strategies (O'Brien et al., 1989;Stergiou and Fourtouni, 1991;Koertner and Heldmaier, 1995;Johnson et al., 2001). In response to such shifts in feeding habits, and thus digestive demand, species modulate gut performance to match pace with digestive load (Hammond and Diamond, 1994;Piersma and Lindström, 1997;Weiss et al., 1998). The plasticity of GI performance is manifested in morphological restructuring and/or functional regulation at the cellular level (Ferraris, 1994;Carey, 1990;Secor, 2005a).The adaptive capacity to regulate digestive performance in response to changes in digestive demand is well expressed by amphibian and reptile species that naturally experience long episodes of fasting (Secor, 2005a). Anurans that estivate during dry seasons and snakes that employ the sit-and-wait tactic of foraging, and thus eat infrequently, severely downregulate GI performance upon the completion of digestion, maintain a quiescent gut while fasting, and with feeding, rapidly upregulate digestive performance (Secor and Diamond, 2000;Secor, 2005b). The benefit of this trait is observed as a reduction in energy expenditure during the bouts of fasting. For example, during estivation, the metabolic rates of anurans are depressed by 70%, and the standard metabolic rates (SMR) of sit-and-wait foraging snakes are 47% less than that of active foraging snakes that only modestly regulate GI performance with feeding and fasting (Guppy and Withers, 1999;Secor and Diamond, 2000).For sit-and-wait foraging snakes, the correlation between infrequent feeding and wide regulation of intestinal performance has been investigated for only four speciesThe adaptive interplay between feeding habits and digestive physiology is demonstrated by the Burmese python, which in response to feeding infrequently has evolved the capacity to widely regulate gastrointestinal performance with feeding and fasting. To explore the generality of this physiological trait among pythons, we compared the postprandial responses of metabolism and both intestinal morphology and function among five members of the genus Python: P. brongersmai, P. molurus, P. regius, P. reticulatus and P. sebae. These infrequently feeding pythons inhabi...

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Section: Plasticity Of Intestinal Functionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Adaptive regulation of digestive performance in the genusPython

Ott

Secor

2007

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Thus, their specialization on flowers producing low-sucrose nectars may explain why bats, despite their remarkable abilities, are unable to fuel their flight muscles with dietary sucrose to the same extent as hummingbirds. Consistent with this interpretation, Hernandez and Martínez del Rio determined that sucrase activities per unit surface area of intestine in Pallas' long-tongued nectar bats are approximately half those measured in hummingbirds (Hernandez and Martínez del Rio, 1992). Thus, it is possible that the oxidation rate of exogenous sugars by hovering bats is more constrained by limitations in the rate of sucrose hydrolysis (and subsequent absorption into the circulation) than in hovering hummingbirds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Dietary sugar as a direct fuel for flight in the nectarivorous bat Glossophaga soricina

Welch

Suarez

2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY It is thought that the capacity of mammals to directly supply the energetic needs of exercising muscles using recently ingested fuels is limited. Humans,for example, can only fuel about 30%, at most, of exercise metabolism with dietary sugar. Using indirect calorimetry, i.e. measurement of rates of O2 consumption and CO2 production, in combination with carbon stable isotope techniques, we found that nectarivorous bats Glossophaga soricina use recently ingested sugars to provide ∼78%of the fuel required for oxidative metabolism during their energetically expensive hovering flight. Among vertebrate animals, only hummingbirds exceed the capacity of these nectarivorous bats to fuel exercise with dietary sucrose. Similar experiments performed on Anna's (Calypte anna) and rufous (Selasphorus rufus) hummingbirds show that they use recently ingested sugars to support ∼95% of hovering metabolism. These results support the suggestion that convergent evolution of physiological and biochemical traits has occurred among hovering nectarivorous animals,rendering them capable of a process analogous to aerial refueling in aircraft.

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“…physical activity in nectarivorous bats, as intestinal sucrase concentrations in these bats are high [17] and sugar uptake is fast [18,19]. Sugar uptake probably takes place not only by active transport, but also via a paracellular pathway (such as has been found in frugivorous bats [44,45]), which speeds up intestinal sugar absorption significantly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have been found to rapidly absorb ingested nectar, being well equipped with intestinal sucrase, an enzyme responsible for the hydrolysis of sucrose [17]. Extraordinarily, the ingested sugars are then directly used, rather than being converted into fat, and almost entirely fuel the animals' metabolism both at rest and during flight.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High activity enables life on a high-sugar diet: blood glucose regulation in nectar-feeding bats

Kelm

Simon²,

Kuhlow

et al. 2011

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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High blood glucose levels caused by excessive sugar consumption are detrimental to mammalian health and life expectancy. Despite consuming vast quantities of sugar-rich floral nectar, nectar-feeding bats are long-lived, provoking the question of how they regulate blood glucose. We investigated blood glucose levels in nectar-feeding bats (Glossophaga soricina) in experiments in which we varied the amount of dietary sugar or flight time. Blood glucose levels increased with the quantity of glucose ingested and exceeded 25 mmol l 21 blood in resting bats, which is among the highest values ever recorded in mammals fed sugar quantities similar to their natural diet. During normal feeding, blood glucose values decreased with increasing flight time, but only fell to expected values when bats spent 75 per cent of their time airborne. Either nectar-feeding bats have evolved mechanisms to avoid negative health effects of hyperglycaemia, or high activity is key to balancing blood glucose levels during foraging. We suggest that the coevolutionary specialization of bats towards a nectar diet was supported by the high activity and elevated metabolic rates of these bats. High activity may have conferred benefits to the bats in terms of behavioural interactions and foraging success, and is simultaneously likely to have increased their efficiency as plant pollinators.

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Intestinal disaccharides in five species of phyllostomoid bats

Cited by 33 publications

References 26 publications

Adaptive regulation of digestive performance in the genusPython

Adaptive regulation of digestive performance in the genusPython

Dietary sugar as a direct fuel for flight in the nectarivorous bat Glossophaga soricina

High activity enables life on a high-sugar diet: blood glucose regulation in nectar-feeding bats

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