Relationship between serum endocrine factors, histochemical characteristics of longissimus dorsi muscle and meat quality in pigs

The circulating growth factors, interleukin, cortisol and glycolytic enzyme activities were measured at 7 days before slaughter, and the muscle histochemical characteristics were measured using longissimus dorsi muscle at 45 min postmortem. The total fiber number tended to negatively relate to the concentrations of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β). The percentage of type I muscle fiber was negatively related to serum IGF-I concentration, and positively related to serum epidermal growth factor and TGF-β. Circulating growth factors, interleukin and cortisol were poorly correlated with muscle fiber characteristics and meat quality. These results suggest that endocrine factors measured in antemortem serum may not be appropriate parameters for the prediction of muscle fiber characteristics.