Histochemical Characterisation and Gene Expression Analysis of Skeletal Muscles from Maremmana and Aubrac Steers Reared on Grazing and Feedlot Systems

Simple Summary Muscle fibre types and sizes are important factors affecting muscle growth potential and meat quality. Their variability depends on some factors like muscle type, animal breed, physical activity, and they could be going through morphological or metabolic modifications, throughout animal life. Two muscles from Maremmana, an autochthonous breed from Tuscany (Italy), was compared to those from Aubrac, a breed from the Massif Central (France), under histochemical and gene expression points of view. Both these breeds were poorly studied, and the results identified Maremmana muscles were more oxidative in comparison to Aubrac. Moreover, steers of each breed were proportionally divided and reared on grazing or feedlot systems. Conversely to what was expected, the voluntary physical activity on pasture, another aspect poorly studied, influenced neither histochemical characteristics nor the gene expression. This study aimed to characterise the fibre composition of Triceps brachii (TB) and Semimembranosus (SM) muscles from 20 Maremmana (MA) and 20 Aubrac (AU) steers, and the effect of grazing activity in comparison with feedlot system. The histochemical method was performed with the m-ATPase method with an acid pre-incubation, thus allowing to distinguish type I, IIA, and IIB fibres. Additionally, on total RNA extracted from SM muscle, the expressions of atp1a1, mt-atp6, and capn1 genes were evaluated, in order to find potential associations with muscle fibre histochemical characteristics. In SM muscle, the MA steers had the greater frequency of oxidative fibres (type I and IIA) and the higher atp1a1 expression, in comparison to AU steers. Conversely, AU steers had a greater frequency of type IIB fibres, and the higher capn1 expression. A similar histochemical pattern was observed in TB muscle. The grazing activity was probably insufficient to determine differences both for fibre proportion and size, and gene expressions, except for mt-atp6 expression that was surprisingly highest in feedlot MA in comparison to other steers. These findings further the knowledge of muscle properties belonging to these breeds, and the effect of voluntary physical activity since few studies were available in this regard.

Automated summary

This study compared the histochemical and gene expression characteristics of muscles from Italian Maremmana and French Aubrac cattle breeds, finding Maremmana muscles to be more oxidative. Interestingly, voluntary grazing activity did not significantly impact muscle characteristics and gene expression levels.