Relationship between histochemical, structural characteristics and oxidative stability of rhea limb muscles

Renata S Filgueras; Thierry Astruc; Roland Labas; Annie Venien; Frédéric Peyrin; Rui C Zambiazi; Véronique Santé-Lhoutellier

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.11.126

Relationship between histochemical, structural characteristics and oxidative stability of rhea limb muscles

Food Chem. 2012 Jun 1;132(3):1387-1394. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.11.126. Epub 2011 Dec 8.

Authors

Renata S Filgueras¹, Thierry Astruc², Roland Labas², Annie Venien², Frédéric Peyrin², Rui C Zambiazi³, Véronique Santé-Lhoutellier⁴

Affiliations

¹ INRA, Qualité des Produits Animaux UR370, Centre Theix, 63122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France; Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Agroindustrial, Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Campus Universitário s/n, Caixa Postal 354, Pelotas, RS 96010-900, Brazil.
² INRA, Qualité des Produits Animaux UR370, Centre Theix, 63122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France.
³ Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Agroindustrial, Faculdade de Agronomia Eliseu Maciel, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Campus Universitário s/n, Caixa Postal 354, Pelotas, RS 96010-900, Brazil.
⁴ INRA, Qualité des Produits Animaux UR370, Centre Theix, 63122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France. Electronic address: veronique.sante@clermont.inra.fr.

PMID: 29243627
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.11.126

Abstract

Histochemical and structural characteristics were investigated in Gastrocnemius pars interna (GN) and Iliofiburalis (IF) limb muscles of Rhea americana. The average myofibre area cross-section was greater in GN than IF muscle (p<0.001), whereas the fibre density per section was higher in IF than GN muscle. The only type of myofibre found in both the rhea limb muscles analysed in this study was fast-twitch oxidative-glycolytic fibres (FOG). Immunolabelling analysis and ultrastructural observation of myofibres confirmed the contractile and metabolic characteristics of rhea myofibres, revealing the absolute fast isoform of myosin heavy chain and the abundance of glycogen and mitochondria inside the cells, mainly in IF muscle. These findings converged with previous results on the biochemical and physicochemical characteristics of rhea meat to provide further evidence that myofibre composition substantially influences the oxidative reactions of the muscle and therefore the meat quality, but more in-depth examination is needed to establish the links between myofibre characteristics, myofibre glycogen concentration and meat stability during storage.

Keywords: Actomyosin ATPase activity; Fast MyHC; Fast-twitch oxidative–glycolytic fibre; Meat quality; Periodic acid-Schiff; Rhea americana; SDH activity.