Postmortem regulation of glycolysis by 6-phosphofructokinase in bovine muscle

This study was conducted to assess the regulation of glycolysis by 6phosphofructokinase (PFK) during the postmortem metabolism of beef muscle. In the first experiment, M. sternocephalicus pars mandibularis samples were excised from six randomly-selected steers. Two samples were obtained from each steer immediately postmortem; one sample was quickly immersed in liquid nitrogen and the other was stored at 4oC for 4 d. Glycogen concentrations decreased 45% from d 0 to d 4, and 39.6 ?mol/g of glycogen was still present in the tissue at d 4. Concentrations of free glucose increased (P < 0.001) from 0.84 ?mol/g at d 0 to 6.54 ?mol/g at d 4. Fructose-6-phosphate (F6P) and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) increased (P < 0.001) from d 0 to d 4 (2.8-fold and 4.7-fold, respectively). Lactate began accumulating immediately (3.33 ?mol/g) and was elevated to 45.9 ?mol/g by d 4. Glycolytic potential was 34.4 ?mol/g higher (P < 0.05) when measured at d 0 than at d 4. The greatest activity of PFK was measured in fresh muscle extracts, between pH 7.4-7.8; by reducing the pH to 7.0, PFK activity was depressed by nearly 50% at 1 mM F6P. In a second experiment, M. longissimus lumborum samples were excised at the 13th thoracic rib location from six randomly-selected steers. Samples were obtained at intervals ranging from 40 min to 24 h postmortem. Glycogen concentrations decreased 45% between 40 and 100 min, and tended (P &#8804; 0.10) to decrease between 100 min and 24 h (from 47 to 32 ?mol/g). Concentrations of free glucose increased (P &#8804; 0.009) from 1.0 ?mol/g at 40 min to 5.0 ?mol/g at 24 h. Concentrations of F6P and G6P increased dramatically after 100 min (muscle pH &#8804; 6.5), whereas glycogen depletion appeared to halt by 100 min. Lactate began accumulating almost immediately and tripled in concentration by 24 h. The elevation of G6P and F6P, coupled with the pH sensitivity of PFK, indicate that the postmortem decline in pH ultimately inactivates PFK prior to glycogen depletion