Effect of muscle type on the rate of post-mortem proteolysis in pigs

Post-mortem proteolysis was examined in muscle homogenates from porcine m. longissimus dorsi (LD), m. semitendinosus (ST), m. semimembranosus (SM), m. vastus intermedius (VI), and m. soleus (S). During post-mortem storage, desmin and troponin-T degraded faster in LD and SM than in ST, VI and S. ST exhibited the same rate of degradation as VI and S. These differences could not be explained solely by differences in fibre type distribution, indicating that other muscle-specific traits independent of fibre type determine myofibrillar degradation post-mortem. Thus, the rate of post-mortem proteolysis seems to depend more on muscle-to-muscle variations than on fibre type composition.