Study on tenderizing mechanism of high hydrostatic pressure on bovine intramuscular connective tissue

高静水压使牛的肌肉内结缔组织和肉变嫩。扫描电子显微镜的形态观察显示，高压导致肌内结缔组织结构减弱，尤其是肌膜周围和肌周-内膜交界处的胶原纤维网络。高压下未见胶原分子的降解，而胶原纤维或原纤维解离成纤维或分子。因此，高静水压力不能降解肌内胶原分子，但会削弱胶原分子和纤维之间的结合，这可能参与了肌肉内结缔组织的嫩化和结构性减弱。

High hydrostatic pressure tenderized bovine intramuscular connective as well as meat. Morphological study by scanning electron microscopy revealed that high pressure induced structural weakening of intramuscular connective tissue, especially collagen fiber networks in perimysium and perimysial-endomysial junction. Degradation of collagen molecules by high pressure could not be shown, while dissociation of collagen fibers or fibrils into fibrils or molecules could be found. High hydrostatic pressure can therefore not degrade the intramuscular collagen molecules but can weaken the association of collagen molecules and fibrils, which might be involved in tenderizing followed by structural weakening of intramuscular connective tissue.