Molecular and Biological Factors Affecting Skeletal Muscle Cells After Slaughtering and Their Impact on Meat Quality: A Mini Review

Abstract

The postmortem factors like rate of glycolysis and muscle shortening have a major role on meat characteristics and these have been efficiently manipulated by methods like chilling regime, electrical stimulation and different hanging. These methods have been optimized with time leaving a little scope for further improvement. During the harvesting process of meat there is a generalized cell death often referred to as necrosis or apoptosis. This process of cell death has been well studied with respect to various physiological functions in vivo but its role in postmortem meat quality has received little attention. It is mainly regulated by caspases and also probably by calpains, cathepsins, proteasomes, lysosomal enzymes and other molecules, antioxidants and stress proteins. The term apoptosis appears to be more appropriate as evident by involvement of the enzyme systems and cell shrinkage. Further, examination of postmortem events effecting meat quality and correlate them to understand the cell death process may reveal the possible involvement of both apoptosis and necrosis processes, one preceding the other. This article is an attempt to review the apoptotic process of various cell lines and possible implication for muscle cells after slaughter and meat quality control. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Understanding the intricate biochemical mechanisms governing cell death processes after slaughter may help us provide better solutions for preslaughter animal handling and postslaughter interventions to manage meat toughness. Investigations on these tracks would distinguish muscle cell death processes after slaughter from apoptosis or necrosis, and consequently may lead to enhanced technological meat quality as available literature suggests that a number of molecules such as caspase family are likely to be involved in cell death process after slaughter and also in meat tenderization.

The GENOTEND chip: a new tool to analyse gene expression in muscles of beef cattle for beef quality prediction

“…HSP help in maintaining the integrity of the cell and have an anti-apoptotic activity [43]. For instance, proteomic studies showed that Hsp27 in fresh Blonde d’Aquitaine muscle and levels of Hsp27 fragments in aged meat explained up to 91% of variation in sensory scores [23].…”

“…Cell death induces considerable cell stress and, in response to stress, cells rapidly produce heat shock proteins (HSP) that play a universal role in maintaining cellular homeostasis. HSP help in maintaining the integrity of the cell and have an anti-apoptotic activity [ 43 ]. For instance, proteomic studies showed that Hsp27 in fresh Blonde d’Aquitaine muscle and levels of Hsp27 fragments in aged meat explained up to 91% of variation in sensory scores [ 23 ].…”

Effect of dietary supplementation with sugar cane extract on meat quality and oxidative stability in finishing pigs

“…Meat quality development is often influenced by post-slaughter muscle metabolism, which is indicated by the rate of lactic acid generation and subsequent reduction of pH ( Park et al., 2010 ). Lactate dehydrogenase is a key enzyme in the conversion of pyroracemic acid to lactic acid under postmortem anaerobic conditions in the muscle ( Li et al., 2015 ).…”

Meat Quality, Blood Profile, and Fecal Ammonia Concentration of Broiler Supplemented with Liquid Smoke

“…In the beginning, meat pH was still high and it gradually declined with the increased duration before measurement. This condition was caused by glycolysis process that produced lactic acid in the meat (Park et al, 2010). The decline in the value of the cut off strength of meat is one of the indicators of tenderness.…”