Energy metabolism in response to fasting of insectivorous bat Molossus molossus Pallas, 1766 (Chiroptera: Molossidae) / Metabolismo energético em resposta ao jejum do morcego insetívoro Molossus molossus Pallas, 1766 (Chiroptera: Molossidae)

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

Bats (Chiroptera: Mammalia) are considered important for regulating the tropical ecosystem, including the Atlantic Forest, which is the area of this study. This order constitutes the second biggest group of mammals in species numbers, in some areas it constitutes up to 50% of mammals species. The study of the energetic metabolism of mammals constitute a fundamental stage to understand the working of the living being and comprehend the comparison of behavior metabolic between species in specific nutritional situations. The study of the energetic metabolism of vertebrates has demonstrated that the activation of the metabolic pathway is related to the type of ingested diet. In this study, comparisons were made by analyzing patterns of metabolic rates of male and female bats of the species M. molossus which had been fasting for 24 to 48 hours. Metabolic rate of different energy reserves were observed during the different periods of fasting. During the alimentary privation, the mobilization of the energy reservations in M. molossus seems to differ as for the sex. Females seem to mobilize the different reservations in a more pronounced way than males, at least after the fast of 48 hours, when this presentes a decrease of the lipid concentration in the muscles of the paws and in the carcass, and proteins of the breastplate muscle. However, in spite of this mobilization, the glycemia of females demonstrated a significant fall after the fast of 48 hours, suggesting that the low reservations formed in the fed state was not enough to sustain the glycemia after this period. In males, there is no effective mobilization of the energetic reservations, and the glycemic homeostasis is maintained after the different fasting periods, suggesting a smaller metabolic susceptibility of these in relation to the females.

ASSUNTO(S)

bats metabolismo energético fasting fisiologia jejum energy metabolism morcegos

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