title: pH Dependence of the progression in NMR T(2) relaxation times in post-mortem muscle.
abstract: Continuous NMR T(2) relaxation measurements were carried out on seven rabbit longissimus muscle samples in the period from 25 min to 28 h post-mortem at 200 MHz for (1)H. To display differences in post-mortem pH progress and extent of changes in water characteristics during conversion of muscle to meat, three of the seven animals were pre-slaughter injected with adrenaline (0.5 mg/kg live weight 4 h before sacrifice) to differentiate muscle glycogen stores at the time of slaughter. Distributed analysis of T(2) data displayed clear differences in the characteristics of the various transverse relaxation components dependent on progress in pH, as did the water-holding capacity of samples 24 h post-mortem. This reveals a pronounced effect of the progressive change in pH on the subsequent development in physical/chemical states of water during the conversion of muscle to meat. Finally, the relaxation characteristics are discussed in relation to supposed post-mortem processes of protein denaturation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Research Centre Foulum, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark. HanneC.Bertram@agrsci.dk
authors.forename: Hanne Christine
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Bertram
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Whittaker
authors.forename: Henrik J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Anders H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Karlsson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001834:Body Water; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008460:Meat; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011489:Protein Denaturation; D011817:Rabbits; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D009124:Muscle Proteins