Abstract

In most mammals, running is fuelled by oxidization of endogenous carbohydrates and lipids while amino acids contribute little (< 5-10%). Common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus), however, specialize on a unique, protein-rich blood diet. Therefore, we hypothesized that (i) vampire bats would rapidly begin utilizing dietary amino acids to support running metabolism, and (ii) that relative reliance on essential and non-essential amino acids would be similar. We fed bats cow's blood enriched either with isotopically labelled glycine (non-essential amino acid) or leucine (essential amino acid). Bats were exercised at speeds of 10, 20 and 30 m min-1 on a respirometry treadmill, allowing us to assess metabolic rate (i.e. O2 consumption and CO2 production) and track the oxidation of labelled amino acids in exhaled CO2. Vampire bats oxidized amino acids as their primary fuel as indicated by a respiratory exchange ratio (RER = ratio of CO2 production to O2 consumption rates) of approximately 0.8-0.9 at all speeds, with the labelled meal accounting for as much as 60% of oxidized fuels at peak usage. Similar oxidation rates indicated bats did not discriminate between essential and non-essential amino acid use. These findings reiterate how strongly metabolism can be shaped by a specialized diet.

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