Morphological bases for intestinal paracellular absorption in bats and rodents.

Flying mammals present unique intestinal adaptations, such as lower intestinal surface area than nonflying mammals, and they compensate for this with higher paracellular absorption of glucose. There is no consensus about the mechanistic bases for this physiological phenomenon. The surface area of the small intestine is a key determinant of the absorptive capacity by both the transcellular and the paracellular pathways; thus, information about intestinal surface area and micro-anatomical structure can help explain differences among species in absorptive capacity.

Intestinal Water Absorption Varies with Expected Dietary Water Load among Bats but Does Not Drive Paracellular Nutrient Absorption.

Rapid absorption and elimination of dietary water should be particularly important to flying species and were predicted to vary with the water content of the natural diet. Additionally, high water absorption capacity was predicted to be associated with high paracellular nutrient absorption due to solvent drag. We compared the water absorption rates of sanguivorous, nectarivorous, frugivorous, and insectivorous bats in intestinal luminal perfusions.

High paracellular nutrient absorption in intact bats is associated with high paracellular permeability in perfused intestinal segments.

Water-soluble nutrients are absorbed by the small intestine via transcellular and paracellular mechanisms. Based on a few previous studies, the capacity for paracellular nutrient absorption seems greater in flying mammals than in nonflying mammals, but there has been little investigation of the mechanisms driving this difference. Therefore, we studied three species each of bats (Artibeus lituratus, Sturnira lilium and Carollia perspicillata) and nonflying mammals (Akodon montensis, Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus).