Inhibition of nitric oxide release pre-slaughter increases post-mortem glycolysis and improves tenderness in ovine muscles
Introduction
Nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as an important regulator of skeletal muscle homeostasis, where it interacts with many physiological pathways, some of which are important to meat quality. Examples include nitric oxide influencing glycogenolysis (Borgs et al., 1996, Jaffrey et al., 2001), glycolysis (Mohr, Stamler, & Brune, 1996), cytosolic calcium flux (Eu et al., 1999, Ishii et al., 1998, Meszaros et al., 1996) and inhibition of calpain activity (Koh and Tidball, 2000, Michetti et al., 1995).
NO is generated from arginine by the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS). While injection of inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) into hot-boned beef has been observed to reduce tenderness in one study (Cook, Scott, & Devine, 1998), it has been hypothesised that NOS activity post-slaughter is limited (Brannan and Decker, 2001, Cottrell et al., 2002). Brannan and Decker (2002) showed NOS activity, when measured in vitro, remained until 24 h in pork muscle but disappeared immediately after slaughter in chicken, turkey and trout muscle. It is likely that this is due to the tight regulation of NO biosynthesis, which requires many co-factors, including O2 and NADPH (Bredt & Snyder, 1994), which are in low abundances in ischaemic muscle. Therefore, due to reduced substrate availability and temperature in the post-slaughter environment, it is likely that NOS activity is significantly attenuated. Since inhibition of endogenous NOS has only been attempted in hot-boned muscles (Cook et al., 1998, Cottrell et al., 2002), where activity is likely to be already attenuated (Brannan and Decker, 2001, Brannan and Decker, 2002, Cottrell et al., 2002), the real effect of endogenous NO on meat quality remains untested. The aims of this experiment therefore were to investigate the effect of endogenous NO on meat quality by increasing and decreasing muscle NOS activity with exercise (Jungersten et al., 1997, Roberts et al., 1999) and a pharmacological inhibitor, respectively.
Section snippets
Animals and catheterisation
Forty Border Leicester/Merino cross lambs, approximately six months old, ranging between 33.5 and 51.0 kg live weight were housed in individual pens with visual and audial contact for 10–14 days pre-slaughter to acclimatise. During this period, lambs had access to alfalfa chaff and concentrate pellets (Barastoc Stockfeeds) and water ad libitum. At one day pre-slaughter, a catheter was inserted into the jugular vein (i.v.). Food was removed approximately 12 h pre-slaughter, but ad libitum access to
Plasma and muscle metabolites
Plasma glucose and lactate concentrations before exercise were not influenced by L-NAME infusion (Glucose; (3.1 vs. 3.0 ± 0.04 mmol/L for 0 vs. 30 mg/kg L-NAME, P = 0.56. Lactate; 0.44 vs. 0.45 ± 0.016 mmol/L, P = 0.40). Exercise increased plasma glucose concentrations 2-fold and lactate concentrations 6-fold respectively (Table 1). In exercised lambs, pre-infusion of L-NAME reduced exercise mediated hyperglycaemia by approximately 30%, while no difference in lactate concentrations were observed.
Overall,
Discussion
The effects of animal stress on physiological components within skeletal muscle remain poorly understood. Hence, it is a high priority to understand acute skeletal muscle physiological and regulatory pathways that ultimately influence meat quality. The aim of this experiment was to determine whether endogenous synthesis of the regulatory molecule NO influenced meat glycogen content, pH, sarcomere length, colour, water holding capacity and tenderness. This was accomplished by the use of the NOS
Conclusion
These data indicate that NO plays a role in the conversion of muscle to meat, influencing muscle proteolysis and glycolysis. The reduction in plasma glucose concentrations after NOS inhibition in exercised lambs indicates that NO is involved in stimulating glucose release during exercise. This also indicates that NOS activity is increased during exercise-stress. While the glycogenolytic and glycolytic effects of NOS inhibition were observed independently of exercise, increases in muscle lactate
Acknowledgment
The funding of Meat and Livestock Australia and technical assistance of M. Kerr, L. Can, S. Baud, T. Hauke, P. Walker, B. Doughton, D. Kerton, S. Coronado and K. Perkins is gratefully acknowledged.
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2022, Food ChemistryCitation Excerpt :Protein S-nitrosylation, which refers to the covalent attachment of nitric oxide (NO) group to the sulfhydryl of protein cysteine to form S-nitrosothiol, is considered as a common post-translational modification in cell signaling pathway (Hess, Matsumoto, Kim, Marshall, & Stamler, 2005). Previous researches have been conducted to investigate the potential role of NO and its-induced protein S-nitrosylation in regulating fresh meat quality by managing the content of NO in postmortem muscle (Cottrell, McDonagh, Dunshea, & Warner, 2008; Cottrell, Ponnampalam, Dunshea, & Warner, 2015). A hypothesis was made that NO produced in postmortem muscle would modify the protein cysteine for S-nitrosylation, which may regulate the protein activity, function and interaction, and in turn affect physiological metabolism of muscle and the meat quality during postmortem aging (Liu, Warner, Zhou & Zhang, 2018a).
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Present address: Faculty of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3053, Australia.