De Novo Serum Biochemistry and Electrophoretic Reference Intervals for Jamaican Fruit Bats (Artibeus jamaicensis)

The Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis; JFB) is a natural host and current experimental model for many viruses, including Middle East respiratory syndrome virus, dengue virus, Zika virus, rabies virus, influenza virus, tacaribe virus, and most recently SARS-CoV-2, due to their unique immune systems, which allow the harboring and transmission of disease without developing significant clinical disease themselves. In these studies, disease impact can be measured using changes in serum biochemical and protein electrophoretic blood values. However, no currently established reference intervals for JFB exist. In this study, we aimed to define these baseline parameters from our closed bat colony and determine sex differences, if any. We hypothesized that many chemistry values would be similar to other species of frugivorous bats with elevated creatine kinase and glucose due to hand capture and that sex differences would be minimal. One hundred thirty-four adult bats (62 males and 72 females) were randomly selected from an apparently healthy captive population of JFB for isoflurane euthanasia and blood collection by cardiocentesis. Serum samples were routinely processed using commercially available methods. Reference intervals for the total population and both sexes were established using the Reference Value Advisor 2.1 macro for Excel and the nonparametric method in accordance with current guidelines. When compared against reference values for other frugivorous bat species, JFB most notably had increased ALT, AST, GGT, and potassium values. Higher phosphorus and ALP levels may be attributed to sampling of juveniles, while elevated creatine kinase and glucose are secondary to capture. Males had considerably higher cholesterol, while females had higher glucose and γ-globulin. This information on serum biochemical values adds to our knowledge of the normal physiologic parameters of this species and will serve as a useful guide for future studies performed on Jamaican fruit bats.