Relationship between beta‐adrenergic agonists, calpain system activity and beef texture: A systematic review

Abstract

The objective was to conduct a systematic review to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with beta-adrenergic agonists on calpains and calpastatin activity in bovine muscle and changes in meat tenderness. A survey was conducted in June 2019 on Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and Capes Periodicals, using four keyword combinations: agonist and calpain and cattle; agonist and calpain and bovine; agonist and calpain and heifers; agonist and calpain and steers. Thirteen studies were selected, 54% concluded that supplementation with beta-adrenergic agonists increases calpastatin activity, 23% observed increase in their gene expression and 23% reported no effect on activity or expression of this enzyme. Nine studies evaluated the influence of beta-adrenergic agonists supplementation on meat texture and all found an increase in shear force values. There is strong evidence that betaadrenergic agonists may increase calpastatin activity in the muscle, causing damage to meat tenderness.

Carcass Characteristics and Quality Attributes of Beef from Cattle Supplemented Zinc and Ractopamine Hydrochloride

“…Increased toughness in meat from cattle supplemented RAC is typically attributed to increased calpastatin activity (Strydom et al, 2009;Cruz et al, 2021), decreasing calpain activity and protein degradation (Lonergan et al, 2001). A study of pork longissimus dorsi muscle has shown decreased calpain-1 activity in muscle from pigs fed RAC without observing differences in calpastatin activity (Sainz et al, 1993); thus, investigating multiple aspects of the calpain proteolytic system is necessary.…”

“…It has previously been identified that aging past 21 d postmortem was necessary to diminish the negative impacts of RAC supplementation on tenderness (Boler et al, 2012). Increased toughness in steaks from RAC supplemented (200 to 300 mg per animal) and supplementation of other beta-agonists is attributed to decreased proteolysis due to increased calpastatin activity (Strydom et al, 2009;Cruz et al, 2021). Early postmortem decreases in tenderness values in steaks from RAC supplemented cattle were explained by a slower rate of postmortem protein degradation in muscle from cattle supplemented RAC (Schulte et al, 2021).…”