The trigger for PSE condition in stress-susceptible pigs

✍ Scribed by K. S. Cheah; A. M. Cheah

• Book ID: 102920945
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 719 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2740271209

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Tightly coupled mitochondria from M. longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle of different breeds of pigs showed variations in the rate of Ca^2+^ efflux during anaerobiosis. The initial fast efflux rate of Ca^2+^ could be used to relate the stress‐susceptibility of the pigs used. Mitochondria from LD muscle of stress‐susceptible (SS) Pietrain and Poland China pigs showed an anaerobic rate of Ca^2+^ efflux twice that of stress‐resistant (SR) Large Whites. Mitochondria from crossbreds (Large White x Saddleback) showed a Ca^2+^ efflux rate intermediate between that of purebred SS and SR pigs. Halothane enhanced the rate of Ca^2+^ efflux only in SS pigs, and this effect could be eliminated by MgCl~2~. The marked difference in the rate of Ca^2+^ efflux between SS and SR pigs, and the enhancement in the rate of Ca^2+^ efflux by halothane only in SS pigs, offers an ultimate explanation for the formation of PSE (pale, soft and exudative) muscle and malignant hyperthermia in SS pigs. The excess Ca^2+^ liberated from mitochondria of SS pigs is postulated to be the trigger for PSE meat and also the case of malignant hyperthermia.