Bat Research

The Office of Research Compliance at Texas A&M University received an email message in September 2008 which described two complainants’ concerns regarding the use of bats in a research and teaching project being pursued at Texas A&M by Christopher Quick, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering and physiology and pharmacology. In response, and in accordance with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) guidelines and federal regulations, the IACUC formed an investigative subcommittee to investigate the concerns raised in the message. The subcommittee presented its report to the IACUC on January 15, 2009. In brief, the subcommittee found no evidence of noncompliance with the approved Animal Use Protocol for Colony Maintenance by Dr. Quick’s laboratory.

The following points are provided to help clarify public understanding of the bat research being pursued in Dr. Quick’s laboratory.

• Texas A&M University’s Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology maintains a colony of bats as a resource for research, research training, and teaching physiology.
  

• Researchers working with the bats in the colony adhere to a strict Animal Use Protocol for Colony Maintenance approved by IACUC. This protocol describes the various aspects of the colony’s operation and maintenance, beginning with the capture of the bats, transition to captivity, colony maintenance, and safeguards to ensure the general well-being of the animals. Bats are collected and transitioned to captivity after consultation with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Bat Conservation International. In the colony, bats are conditioned to eat, drink, forage, exercise, and remain still during experiments.
  

• Dr. Quick’s laboratory, whenever possible, uses mathematical models to predict how changes in blood vessel and lymphatic vessel diameters affect the flow of blood and lymph. Dr. Quick has been able to replace some animal experiments by using previously published data to construct mathematical models that answer basic questions in vascular physiology. Mathematical models have also provided a means to refine experiments, by providing theoretical estimates of the effects of particular interventions before trying them experimentally.
  

• Mathematical models are not useful, however, in studying how blood or lymphatic vessels interact with each other or with the tissue in which they are embedded. Therefore, the laboratory studies vessels noninvasively in the wings of sleeping bats.
  

• The bat wing is the only animal model that allows noninvasive measurement of vascular network structure and function without anesthesia or surgical trauma. The wing is thin enough for light to shine through it, so vessel diameter and blood flow can be estimated under the microscope without resorting to surgery to expose them.
  

• Through studying sleeping bats’ wings, the laboratory has acquired new insights about the mechanisms underlying hypertension, thermoregulation, immune function, and edema. Understanding these mechanisms will lead to betterment of the health of both humans and animals.
  

• Since the lab’s experimental procedures do not require surgery to expose the vessels, repeated measurements—and therefore tracking of numerous variables over the period of weeks or even months—is possible. The unique ability for researchers to view the same vessel before, during, and after a particular experimental intervention allows each vessel to be treated as its own control, therefore decreasing the number of experiments necessary to show statistical significance.
  

• Pallid bats in particular have less pigmentation in the wing compared to other species of bats, allowing visualization of the vasculature without injecting dyes.
  

• The same reason why the pallid bat wing is ideal for research makes it ideal for teaching microvascular physiology. Teaching labs where students observe basic physiological responses to stimuli provide an interactive learning experience that is far more effective than presenting the same concepts solely in written or lecture form.
  

• Novice observers can focus the microscope on bat wing blood vessels during the course of a scheduled research experiment without altering the bat’s environment. This allows students more active learning and practical experience with microscopy than they would acquire by merely watching a movie, and it reduces the amount of times necessary to schedule a separate teaching lab.
  

• Information gathered in the lab’s experiments, including video of microscopic images of bats’ wings, is being collected into a database of experimental data. This database has made it possible to search unpublished data first before proposing new experiments. Dr. Quick is working toward making this database available to the public, so that other investigators or educators can use previously collected data to reduce their animal use.
  

• The use of bats, in conjunction with mathematical modeling and the development of a large database, has the potential to greatly increase the quality of scientific research products and educational material.

Texas A&M University is committed to the humane care and use of animals.