Simulation of giant fibre development in biopsy samples from pig longissimus muscle

The incidence of hyper-contracted giant fibres in pig postmortem skeletal muscle is closely related to poor meat quality in terms of pale, soft, and exudative pork. Detection of a predisposition to develop giant fibres in live pigs could help to predict pork quality and to exclude affected pigs from genetic selection. The abundance and proportion of giant fibres in longissimus muscle were highest in Pietrain followed by Landrace, Large White, and Leicoma pigs of market weight. The postmortem development of giant fibres could be successfully simulated in vitro incubating biopsy samples from longissimus muscle at 37 degrees C for 60 min. For repeated measurements on three samples the intraclass correlation coefficient for the number ber of giant fibres/cm(2) was (sic)(3) = 0.69 for biopsy and (sic)(3) = 0.87 for carcass samples. Simulated giant fibres exhibited ultrastructural changes in plasma membrane, myofibrils, mitochondria, and sarcoplasmatic reticulum as shown previously for giant fibres in carcass samples. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.