Electrophoresis as a useful tool in studying the quality of meat products

PIGHIN, DARIO G.

Electrophoresis

Intech

Año: 2012;

A great deal of attention has been paid to the most important proteins of the myofibrillar system because of their potential role in meat processing. Several authors have succeeded in the isolation and/or enrichment of some of these proteins (Ho et al., 1994; Pan & Damodaran, 1994; Wang, 1982; Wang & Greaser, 1985). Nevertheless, most of the described methodologies use to be difficult to carry out because of their complexity, associated in part with the exerted interactions among these proteins throughout the myofibrils (Houmeida et al., 1995; Linke et al., 2002). The purpose of the present chapter is to compile own published data which illustrate the usefulness of electrophoresis analysis in meat research, either used alone or in combination to other techniques. The first part describes a simple methodology to simultaneously co-enrich myosin, actin, titin and nebulin from beef muscles. It is believed that the described method will provide enriched myofibrillar proteins, which could be used for more specific analysis, like microscopy studies, immunological and/or differential scanning calorimetric analysis. The second component of this chapter is focused on the study of the effect of saline additives on muscle proteins structure to improve meat quality. Since DSC has become one of the most useful techniques for studying the thermal behavior of components of biological systems, its approach in combination to SDS-PAGE is also described. The methodologies used provide useful information in order to explain the improvement of sensorial properties observed in meat treated with saline additives and submitted to sous vide system.