Relationship between serum endocrine factors, histochemical characteristics of longissimus dorsi muscle and meat quality in pigs.

摘要

Relationships between serum endocrine factors and histochemical properties of pork longissimus dorsi and meat quality were investigated. Circulating growth factors, interleukin, cortisol and glycolytic enzyme activities were measured at 7 days before slaughter, and histochemical characteristics were evaluated at 45 min postmortem. The total fibre number tended to negatively relate to concn. of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and transforming growth factor- beta (TGF- beta). The percentage of type I muscle fibres was negatively related to serum IGF-I concn. and positively related to serum epidermal growth factor and TGF- beta. Circulating growth factors, interleukin and cortisol, were poorly correlated with muscle fibre characteristics and meat quality. These results suggest that endocrine factors measured in antemortem serum may not be appropriate parameters for the prediction of muscle fibre characteristics.