Proteolytic activity of muscle in pre- and post-spawning hake (Merluccius hubbsi Marini) after frozen storage

Abstract

The proteolytic activity of fillets from fresh fish and after frozen storage of hake muscle from pre- and post-spawned fish was investigated. The autolytic activity of fresh muscle extracts from pre-spawned muscle extracts was significantly higher than that of post-spawned, except for pH 3.4 and incubation temperature of 60°C where no significant difference was found. In both gonadal conditions, the freezing of hake fillets affected the proteolytic activity of crude muscle extracts. After 50 d of frozen storage, the proteolytic activity values of crude muscle extracts remained higher than the fresh values, except for pre-spawned extracts incubated at 37°C. At longer storage period (110 d), the proteolytic activity continued with similar or higher values compared with those observed for fresh muscle extracts. Densitometric analysis of crude muscle extracts indicated degradation of MHC in fresh and frozen storage at both gonadal conditions under incubation conditions of pH 6.2 and temperatures 37 and 60°C, pH 8.5 and temperatures 37 and 60°C, pH 3.4 and temperature 4°C. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.