Lipids and glutathione - dependent enzymes in the pig neck

Abstract

A pig neck is meat predominantly used for barbecues and the amount of lipids and cholesterol in relation to the activities of lipid peroxide reducing enzymes is important also for the prevention of oxysterol formation during a thermal preparation. We examined lipid peroxide reducing enzymes activities in the pig neck as well as the amount of lipids and cholesterol. We found high activity of both selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px; EC 1.11.1.9) and glutathione eductase (GR; EC 1.6.4.2) enzymes in the pig neck as well as high content of lipids and cholesterol. Our results are discussed in relation to the balance between synthesis, oxidation, and intracellular transport of fatty acids in muscles as the main factor responsible for muscle lipid content variations in animals undergoing a normal growth.