Changes in the 4-hydroxy-2-hexenal (HHE) and malonaldehyde (MA) contents were investigated in the meat of the yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiate containing 0, 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 M NaCl stored at 0 C for 7 days. After 7 days of storage, the HHE content was significantly lower and the MA content significantly higher in the meat containing NaCl than in the control without NaCl.Key words: yellowtail; NaCl; 4-hydroxy-2-hexenal; malonaldehydeLipid peroxidation is one of the major causes of quality deterioration in meat and meat products.
1)During the lipid peroxidation process, various secondary reactions occur and various aldehydes are consequently formed. Among these aldehydes, 4-hydroxy-2-alkenals are particularly interesting because they have been reported to elicit various powerful biological activities such as the inhibition of enzymes, chemotactic activity toward neutrophils, and the inhibition of protein synthesis. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Among the 4-hydroxy-2-alkenals, 4-hydroxy-2-hexenal (HHE) and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) are the major aldehydes that are respectively formed during the peroxidation of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and n-6 PUFA; 4) however, the mechanism for their formation has not been fully understood. We have reported that HHE was present in some fish meat 9) and HNE in pork.10) The HHE content increased in yellowtail meat stored at À20 C 11) and also in yellowtail meat containing sugi wood vinegar stored at 0 C; 12) however, the malonaldehyde (MA) content barely increased in this meat. On the contrary, both the HNE and MA contents increased in pork stored at À20 C 13) and in pork containing sugi wood vinegar stored at 0 C. 14) These results strongly suggested that the mechanism for HHE formation in fish meat might differ from that for HNE formation in pork. However, the reason for this difference has not previously been clarified. We have observed that both the HNE and MA contents in pork containing 1% or 2% NaCl were significantly higher than those in the control sample after 7 days of storage at 0 C. 15) We investigated in this study the effects of NaCl on the formation of HHE in yellowtail meat stored at 0 C. Yellowtails were obtained from commercial market sources. The ordinary muscle was minced, mixed with an appropriate amount of NaCl, and stored at 0 C. In all experiments, 3 samples from each group were analyzed. 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) was obtained from Wako Pure Chemicals (Tokyo, Japan). The chemical reaction between DNPH and HHE was carried out according to the procedure reported by Goldring et al.
16)The HHE-DNPH derivative was analyzed by highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC), as reported by Sakai et al.,9) under the following conditions: column, Ultrasphere C18 (25 cm  4:6 mm i.d., Beckman, California, USA); mobile phase, 30 mM sodium citrate/27.7 mM acetate buffer (pH ¼ 4:75):methanol = 35:65; flow rate, 1 ml/min; column temperature, 40 C; and detection wavelength, 365 nm. 1,3-Diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid (DETBA) was obtained from Aldrich Chemicals (Mi...