BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE OF WILD-CAPTURED INDIAN FLYING FOX (Pteropus giganteus) IN BANGLADESH.

Bats of the genus Pteropus (P.) under the class Mammalia are important ecologically as pollinators, but little is known about their basic physiology. For this, serum biochemical values of healthy wild captured frugivorus bats (P. giganteus) were determined for providing baseline information and health care assessments in zoological setting. Ninety clinically healthy large frugivorous bats were captured from the wild and anesthetized for 2 hours following capture for blood collection from brachial vein. Serum glucose, total protein (TP), triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), creatinine phosphokinase (CPK), urea, uric acid, calcium and phosphorus were determined using biochemical analyzer. No major differences were observed in the serum biochemical values between male and female bats, juvenile and adults or fair and good health-state bats except significant variation in the AST (p < 0.05), ALP (p < 0.05) and CPK (p < 0.05) between adult and juvenile bats, calcium (p< 0.01) and phosphorus (p < 0.01) between the good and fair health-state bats. The values from this study can be used to create reference intervals of serum biochemistry of bat found in Indian subcontinent, and they can make up the first comprehensive biochemical study for this highly endangered species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]