Mammals use carbohydrates as a primary fuel during short periods of intense activity, but these reserves can not provide the energy required for travelling long distances like migratory hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) do. Instead, the flight muscles get powered by fat stores, which contain more energy per unit mass than carbohydrates and proteins. Bird migrations have been studied more extensively than bat migrations, and it is known that birds seasonally regulate fatty acid transport pathways and oxidative enzymes, increasing their activity during the time of migration. Based on the similitudes between migratory bats and birds, the researchers hypothesized that bat follow similar metabolic pathways and that fatty acid transport and mitochondrial enzymatic activity would be regulated seasonally as well.
The enzymatic activities studied were CPT, HOAD, and CS; while the fatty acid transport proteins studied (only looking at mRNA expression) were H-FABP, FAT/CD36, and FABpm in flight muscles.
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