Title
The effect of short-term food restriction on the metabolic cost of the acute phase response in the fish-eating Myotis (Myotis vivesi)
Date Issued
01 January 2017
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
research article
Author(s)
Otálora-Ardila A.
Herrera M.L.G.
Flores-Martínez J.J.
Welch K.C.
Publisher(s)
Elsevier GmbH
Abstract
Food restriction affects the activation of the immune system although the metabolic cost associated with mounting such a response has rarely been examined except in model animals. Wild animals are constantly exposed to variations in the availability of food resources and they need to balance their energy budget to fight against pathogens. We examined the effect of food restriction in the fish eating Myotis (Myotis vivesi), a species of bat that experiences periods in which foraging is limited due to ambient conditions. We tested the hypothesis that acute food restriction (∼65% restriction for 1 night) would reduce the caloric response to lipopolysaccharidae (LPS) injection compared to bats fed ad libitum. We also measured a proxy for body temperature (Tskin) and expected reduced fever development when food intake was limited. Bats on the restricted diet had similar resting metabolic rate, total caloric cost and Tskin after the LPS challenge than when fed ad libitum. However, there was a delay in the metabolic and pyrogenic responses when bats were on the restricted diet. The effect of acute food restriction in delaying the hyperthermia development in fish eating Myotis might be of importance for its capacity to fight pathogens. Similar to other bats, the fish eating Myotis can fast for several consecutive days by entering torpor and future work is warranted to understand the effect of long periods of food restriction on bat immune response.
Start page
41
End page
47
Volume
82
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84995776170
Source
Mammalian Biology
ISSN of the container
16165047
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus