Polarized Raman investigations of oriented animal muscle fibers affected by storage time applying a 671 nm diode laser

摘要

Due to its analytical ability and sensitivity to molecular vibrations, Raman spectroscopy provides valuable information of the secondary structure of proteins. Moreover, polarized Raman spectroscopy is shown to be a useful instrument to investigate the structural changes resulting from the aging and spoilage process of meat. In this work, polarized Raman spectra were measured on oriented cuts of pork and turkey. Fresh meat slices were stored at 5 °C and measured for a consecutive time period of 10 days. A 671 nm microsystem diode laser was used as excitation light source. The laser power at the sample was 50 mW and the integration time of each Raman spectrum was set to 5 seconds. Measurements were performed with a laser beam orientation perpendicular to the long axis of the muscle fibers. In that arrangement, the fibers were aligned either parallel or perpendicular to the polarization direction of the laser source. By using the statistical method of principal components analysis (PCA), a clear separation of the meat samples can be found for fresh meat according to the orientation (parallel or perpendicular) using the first two principal components. During the storage period, this separation subsequently vanishes due to the aging process and due to an increase of the microbial spoilage of the meat surface. For the latter effect, a time-dependent distinction of the Raman spectra is presented as well. Furthermore, specific changes of conformation-sensitive Raman bands were recognized, notably a decrease of the intensities of α-helical protein conformation.