Negative Impacts Of In-Vitro Oxidative Stress On The Quality Of Heat-Induced Myofibrillar Protein Gelation During Refrigeration

To investigate the effects of pre-oxidized myofibrillar protein (MP) on stability of heat-induced MP gelation throughout 28days of refrigeration, a hydroxyl radical generating system (10M FeCl3, 0.1mM ascorbic acid, with 10mM H2O2) was employed. Results demonstrated that an increase of carbonyl content followed a similar trend in both pre-oxidized and non-oxidized protein gels. Unexpectedly, pre-oxidized protein gels yielded increased (P<0.05) hardness at 14days of storage compared to the initial day of storage. The water holding capacity (WHC) had a significant positive correlation with gel hardness, percentage of immobile water, and T-22, while having a negative correlation with carbonyl group content and T-23 (P<0.01). These results suggest that the pre-oxidation treatment increases the susceptibility of MP gel matrices to undergo oxidation and thus provides a better comprehension of the consequences that in vitro pre-oxidation treatments have on protein matrix systems.