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Updated: Nov 19, 2025

Chemiluminescence-based Assays for Detection of Nitric Oxide and its Derivatives from Autoxidation and Nitrosated Compounds
Published on: February 16, 2022
Chemical reactivity of nitrite and ascorbate in a cured and cooked meat model implication in nitrosation,
Aline Bonifacie1, Aurélie Promeyrat2, Gilles Nassy2
1Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (INRAE), UR370 Qualité des Produits Animaux, F-63122 Saint Genès-Champanelle, France; IFIP - Institut du Porc, 7 Avenue du Général De Gaulle, 94700 Maisons Alfort, France.
Abstract:
Nitrite, added to cured meat for its bacteriological and technological properties, is implicated in the formation of nitroso compounds (NOCs), such as nitrosylheme, nitrosamines and nitrosothiols, suspected to have a potential impact on human health. The mechanisms involved in NOC formation are studied in regard with the dose-response relationship of added nitrite and its interaction with ascorbate on NOC formation in a cured and cooked meat model. The impact of a second cooking stage on nitrosation was evaluated. The addition of nitrite in the cured and cooked model promoted heme iron nitrosylation and S-nitrosation but not N-nitrosation. Nitrite reduced lipid oxidation without an additional ascorbate effect. The second cooking sharply increased the nitrosamine content while the presence of ascorbate considerably lowered their levels and protected nitrosothiols from degradation. This study gives new insights on the chemical reactivity of NOCs in a cured meat model.
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