Elucidating the Role of Apoptosis in Meat Tenderization Using the Callipyge Lamb Model

Apoptosis is the process of mediated cell death occurring immediately after exsanguination of animals. It is initiated by release of cytochrome C to the cytoplasm, ultimately activating caspase 3. Since caspase 3 is an enzyme that cleaves calpastatin, a known inhibitor of calpain (primary proteolytic enzyme), a potential involvement of apoptosis in meat tenderness development has been proposed. Previously, we presented that a higher activity of heat shock protein (HSP) 27, which has an anti-apoptotic function, and greater toughness were found in callipyge lamb loins compared with normal lamb loins. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to further investigate the role of apoptosis in the postmortem meat tenderization process using the callipyge lamb model.