Autoxidation of purified myoglobin from two bovine muscles

To elucidate the behavioural differences between beef muscles from the viewpoint of colour stability, oxymyoglobin was extracted at 2 h post mortem, purified from two different muscles (longissimus lumborum (LL), stable and psoas major (PM), unstable) and the autoxidation rate was measured. Oxymyoglobin was isolated after separation from metmyoglobin by chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose and TSK SW 2000 columns, and its purity was controlled by electrophoresis and IEF. Over a wide range of pH values (5-9), temperatures (20-50°C) and ionic strength (0-500 mM), no difference was noted between autoxidation rates of LL and PM oxymyoglobin extracted at 2 h post mortem. Conversely, when myoglobin was extracted at 192 h post mortem, the autoxidation rate of PM oxymyoglobin was higher than LL myoglobin, particularly at elevated temperatures. These differences in autoxidation rates after extraction of myoglobin at 2h and 192 h post mortem were not associated with differences in Ea (approximately 23 kcal/mol).