An underlying softening mechanism in pale, soft and exudative - Like rabbit meat: The role of reactive oxygen species - Generating systems

作者：Wang, Zhaoming; Zhou, Hui; Zhou, Kai; Tu, Juncai; Xu, Baocai^*

来源：Food Research International, 2022, 151: 110853.

DOI：10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110853

• PSE-like meat
• Aging
• Softening texture
• ROS-generating systems
• Protein oxidation

This work investigated the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) - generating systems on the softening of the pale, soft and exudative-like (PSE-like) rabbit meat during aging. PSE-like meat was induced by incubation of postmortem rabbit Longissimus thoracis et lumborum at 37 degrees C for 3 h. During aging, PSE-like meat samples had higher values in peroxides value, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, metmyoglobin percentage, ferrylmyoglobin content, non-heme iron content, hydroxyl radical content and ROS concentration compared with the normal ones, suggesting that PSE-like incubation could activate lipid-oxidizing system, myoglobin-mediated oxidation system, together with metal-catalyzed oxidation system. Additionally, higher protein carbonyl content was observed in PSE-like meat, along with a significant loss in sulfhydryl group. The results of SDS-PAGE suggested that more serious protein degradation occurred in PSE-like meat. It is plausible that the activated ROS-generating system played an underlying role in the softening texture during the aging period of PSE-like meat.