In two experiments, the effects of succinate and NADH (reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) on metmyoglobin reductase activity and electron transport chain-linked metmyoglobin reduction were investigated and compared. In experiment 1, metmyoglobin (MetMb), substrate and inhibitors were incubated with mitochondria. Comparsion of the effects of succinate and NADH on MetMb reduction was investigated. The MetMb percentage in sample treated with 8 mol L-1 succinate decreased by about 69% after 3 h incubation, and the effect was inhibited by the addition of 10 mol L-1 electron transfer chain complex II inhibitor malonic acid; the MetMb percentage in samples treated with 2 mol L-1 NADH decreased by 56% and the effect was inhibited by the addition of 0.02 mol L-1 electron transport chain complex I inhibitor rotenone. These results indicated that electron transport chain played an important role in MetMb reduction. Both complex II and complex I take part in the MetMb reduction in mitochondria through different pathways. NADH-MetMb reduction system was less stable than succinate- MetMb system. In experiment 2, the beef longissimus dorsi muscle was blended with different concentrations of succinate or NADH. Enhancing patties with higher concentration of succinate or NADH improved colour stability in vacuum packaged samples (P<0.05). These results verified that mitochondria electron transport chain is related to the MetMb reduction in meat system.

Fatty acid composition of neutral lipids (NLs), phospholipids (PLs) and free fatty acids (FFAs) from intramuscular fat (IMF), lipid oxidation and lipase activity in muscle Semimembranosus (SM) and msucle Biceps femoris (BF) of dry-cured Xuanwei ham during the 90-d salting stages were analysed. The salt content increased from 0.34 to 3.52% in BF and from 0.10 to 5.42% in SM during the 90 d salting stage, respectively. PLs of IMF in both BF and SM decreased 54.70% (P<0.001) and 34.64% (P<0.05), furthermore, the saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of PLs in both muscles were hydrolysed almost isochronously. FFAs were increased from 0.46 g 100 g-1 lipids to 2.92 g 100 g-1 lipids in BF at the end of salting, which was lower than SM (from 1.29 g 100 g-1 lipids to 9.70 g 100 g-1 lipids). The activities of acid lipase, neutral lipase and acid phospholipase all remained active in the 90 d. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) was slowly increased to 1.34 mg kg-1 muscle in BF and to 2.44 mg kg-1 muscle in SM during the salting stage. In conclusion, the controlled salting process prompted the hydrolysis of PLs of IMF notably and increased the lipid oxidation of muscles within some limits.