Effects of high pressure treatments on intramuscular connective tissue

The changes in the morphological structure and proteoglycan (PGs) extractability of the intramuscular connective tissues from bovine skeletal muscle exposed to high pressure (100 similar to 400 MPa) were investigated and compared to those in muscle during ageing. SDS-PAGE profiles of the PGs were also studied. During ageing, structural changes in the endomysium and perimysium occured, and disruption of the honeycomb-like structure of endomysium was observed. Tn the pressurized muscle, deformation of the honeycomb-like structure of endomysium was accelerated with increase of pressure applied to the muscle, and disruption of endomysium was observed in several places in the muscle pressurized at 400 MPa. Changes in the extractability of PGs were not observed in the pressurized muscle, whereas the extractability of PGs decreased with ageing. Changes in the density of the main component in the PGs with molecular mass of more than 3000 kDa on the SDS-PAGE were not observed in the PGs from the pressurized muscle, whereas the density of this band gradually decreased during the ageing. The decrease in the amounts of PGs extracted from the aged muscle seems to be due to degradation of the PGs into small dialysable molecules. From the results, it seems that high pressure treatment has some different effects on intramuscular connective tissue to ageing. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.