Influence of oxidation on heat shock protein 27 translocation, caspase-3 and calpain activities and myofibrils degradation in postmortem beef muscles

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of oxidation on heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) and cytochrome c translocation, myofibrils degradation and endogenous enzymes activities, perfecting tenderization mechanism after slaughter. Bovine muscle (longissimus thoracis) was obtained at 30 min postmortem. Bovine muscle was cut and exposed to saline solution with or without H₂O₂ at 4 °C for 0.25, 1, 3 and 5 days, followed by detection of proteins degradation, location and enzymes activities. Results showed that oxidation promoted the translocation of HSP27 and cytochrome c from the cytoplasm to the cell membrane, which reduced µ-calpain activity, but increased caspase-3 activity through mediating the interaction with the two enzymes. Oxidation retarded troponin-T degradation, but accelerated desmin degradation, which is probably because oxidative modification of myofibrils induced different susceptibility to proteolysis. Therefore, oxidation leads to different regulatory mechanism on µ-calpain and caspase-3, as well as the degree of degradation of myofibrillar proteins, possibly through mediating HSP27 and cytochrome c.

Keywords: Caspase-3; Heat shock protein 27; Myofibrils; Oxidation; Tenderization; µ-Calpain.