Post-mortem aging of chicken pectoral muscle at 5°C leads to Z-line degradation and junction breakdown, which are essential for myofibril fragmentation.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Highlights ultrastructural changes in aged poultry muscle; leaves open their role in commercial meat tenderization processes.
SUMMARY: Changes in the morphology of myofibrils prepared from chicken pectoral muscle during post‐mortem storage at 5°C were examined by light and electron microscopy. When the 24‐hr stored samples were blendorized, electron micrographs showed two types of destruction in the Z‐lines of sarcomeres and myofibrillar fragments: (1) The degradation and/or disappearance of Z‐lines. (2) The breakdown of the junction of Z‐line and I‐filaments. A change in the state of the Z‐line and the junction of the Z‐line and I‐filaments appeared to be indispensable for the fragmentation of the myofibrils. It was also shown through phase contrast microscopic observations that sarcoplasmic proteins, participating in the glycolytic cycle, may play a role in the fragmentation of the myofibrils. Evidence has not been obtained, to date, on the participation of proteolytic enzymes in the fragmentation phenomenon.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Fukazawa et al. (1969) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: