Abstract
The effect of hypertonic salt solutions on meat fibres has been studied as a function of post-mortem storage. Rabbit longissimus dorsi fibres (after about 20 h post-mortem storage at 4°C), were found to swell in hypertonic salt solutions, such as 0·25 m KI or 0·6 m KCl, to two to three times their original diameter. This swelling occurred in the fibre transverse plane only. X-ray diffraction shows swelling occurs by a combination of an increase in the myofilament lattice spacing and a loss of myofilament order. Fibre swelling is highly co-operative. At pHs below the isoelectric point of the myofibrillar proteins, hypertonic salt solutions induce fibre shrinkage. The post-mortem time course of response shows a peak at 18–35 h bounded by periods of minimal or zero response. We propose that the collagenous endomysial sheath acts as a restraint to myofibril swelling and that the characteristics of post-mortem swelling are a balance of the myofibrillar propensity to swell and the constraint of the endomysium.
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