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Isolation and characterization of stigmasterol from highly consumed leaves by the large fruit-eating bat, artibeus amplus (chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

Abstract:

Folivory in bats is still not well understood in functional and evolutionary contexts, partially because it has not been thor-oughly studied. The large fruit-eating bat, Artibeus amplus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) frequently includes leaves of Aspi-dosperma desmanthum (Apocynaceae) in its diet but maximizes its consumption prior to reproduction. The functional and evo-lutionary understanding of these folivorous habits requires fur-ther research, focused on the biological properties of leaves. Species of Aspidosperma exhibit a wide range of biological activities and biosynthesize secondary metabolites. The aim of this study was to purify and isolate the predominant secondary metabolite present in A. desmanthum l eaves t o i dentify a c an-didate compound to explore its potential role in the stimulation or inhibition of A. amplus' reproductive activity. A methanolic extract was prepared with dried leaves of A. desmanthum. Us ing conventional chromatographic methods, a unique compound was isolated and purified, and structurally characterized by spectroscopic methods including IR, EI-MS and uni- and two-di mensional NMR techniques. It was identified as stigmasterol, a metabolite widely distributed in plants, but reported in only two species of Aspidosperma. Stigmasterol has shown a variety of biological activities, including regulation of reproductive activ ity in several mammals. We found a target component and thus suggest testing it in future controlled experiments aimed to study the regulation of reproductive activity in A. amplus. Our study is the first in the Neotropics to isolate a potential hormonal pre cursor from leaves consumed by bats; as such, it is a relevant contribution to the understanding of folivory in frugivorous bats.