Factors determining the time course of rigor mortis

Bate-Smith, E.C.; Bendall, J. R.

doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1949.sp004420

Cited by 234 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Conditions of slaughter Bate-Smith & Bendall (1947, 1949) ensured a uniformity of material in their experiments by injecting the muscle relaxant, myanesin, into the rabbit before decapitation. This could not be done with the horses in the present work.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, even from these muscles it was possible to dissect portions sufficiently elastic to permit the extensibility changes of rigor to be readily detected. The strips thus obtained were wrapped at each end with adhesive tape and the ends were fixed by clips in the apparatus for the measurement of extensibility described by Bate-Smith & Bendall (1949).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For psoas muscles having the same initial pH and thus, by inference, being in a comparable physiological condition, the time elapsing before the onset of the rapid phase of rigor mortis, at any given temperature, depends on the magnitude of the glycogen reserve (Bate-Smith & Bendall, 1949). As long as the glycogen supply lasts, the process of anaerobic glycolysis can normally continue, 1-5 moles of ATP being produced from adenosinediphosphate (ADP) for every mole of lactic acid arising from glycogen (Lipmann, 1941).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The onset of rigor mortis in various muscles of the draught horse

Lawrie¹

1953

The Journal of Physiology

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It has been shown by Bate-Smith & Bendall (1947) that loss of extensibility during the course of rigor mortis in the psoas muscle of the rabbit is directly related to a rapid fall in the level of adenosinetriphosphate (ATP) from its value in the muscle at rest. For psoas muscles having the same initial pH and thus, by inference, being in a comparable physiological condition, the time elapsing before the onset of the rapid phase of rigor mortis, at any given temperature, depends on the magnitude of the glycogen reserve (Bate-Smith & Bendall, 1949). As long as the glycogen supply lasts, the process of anaerobic glycolysis can normally continue, 1-5 moles of ATP being produced from adenosinediphosphate (ADP) for every mole of lactic acid arising from glycogen (Lipmann, 1941). The maintenance of a high ATP level, and hence of pre-rigor extensibility, depends not only on the resynthesis of ATP by glycolysis: the level of creatine phosphate (CP), which serves as a reservoir for the formation of ATP from ADP, is also important. This is apparent from the fact that, irrespective of the glycogen reserves, the ATP level apparently diminishes rapidly as soon as 80 % of the CP initially present has been broken down (Bendall, 1951).In the present study, comparative observations have been made on the onset of rigor mortis in the longissimus dorsi, psoas, diaphragm and heart muscles of the horse. It has been confirmed that the loss of extensibility, characteristic of rigor mortis, is associated with a decrease of ATP in all four muscles. In the psoas of the rabbit, the onset of the rapid loss of extensibility occurs when the ATP level has fallen to about 60-65% of its initial value. On the other hand, the four horse muscles studied do not lose their pre-rigor extensibility appreciably until the ATP level has decreased to 30 % of its initial value. The maintenance of ATP levels in these muscles appears to depend on a CP reservoir to a significantly different extent in each and in 18-2

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The onset of rigor mortis in various muscles of the draught horse

Lawrie¹

1953

The Journal of Physiology

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“…Rigor mortis, or stiffness at death, is the irreversible formation of actomyosin bonds. The timing of the onset of rigor mortis is determined by two factors: 1) the pH of the muscle at death, and 2) the total glycogen reserves present in the muscle of the animal (Bate- Smith and Bendall, 1949). Carcasses which experience rigor quickly postmortem can enter rigor as early as 30 to 45 minutes postmortem, whereas other carcasses may not enter rigor until four to six hours postmortem (Wismer-Pedersen and Briskey, 1961).…”

Section: Conversion Of Muscle To Meatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Composition and quality characteristics of carcasses from pigs divergently selected for residual feed intake on high- or low-energy diets1

Arkfeld

Young

Johnson³

et al. 2015

Journal of Animal Science

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“…Bate-Smith & Bendall (1949) noted that an ultimate pH value of 5-3 appeared to be a limiting value, below which glycolysis was completely inhibited. They considered that the most probable explanation for this was that one or other of the enzymes involved in glycolysis (possibly phosphofructokinase) was increasingly inhibited as the pH fell.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-mortem glycolysis in skeletal muscle. The extent of glycolysis in diluted preparation of mammalian muscle

Newbold

Lee

1965

Biochemical Journal

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1. Sheep-, rabbit-and ox-muscle minces prepared soon after slaughter were diluted with 1 vol. of 0-16 M-potassium chloride in the absence (potassium chloride mince) and presence of added cofactor or glycolysable substrate, and the effects on the ultimate pH were examined. 2. Changes in the concentrations of glycogen and lactate and the concentrations of some phosphorus-containing fractions were determined in ox-muscle preparations. 3. Glycolysis ceased at appreciably higherpH in the potassium chloride mince than in undiluted mince. The inclusion of glycogen, ATP, ADP, NAD or magnesium chloride in the diluent had little effect on the ultimate pH of the diluted mince. 4. Lactic acid production continued at lower pH values in diluted mince containing added glucose 1-phosphate, fructose 1,6-diphosphate or glucose plus hexokinase than in potassium chloride mince. 5. The evidence points to failure of the phosphorylase step being responsible for the dilution effect.

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Factors determining the time course of rigor mortis

Cited by 234 publications

References 8 publications

The onset of rigor mortis in various muscles of the draught horse

The onset of rigor mortis in various muscles of the draught horse

Composition and quality characteristics of carcasses from pigs divergently selected for residual feed intake on high- or low-energy diets1

Post-mortem glycolysis in skeletal muscle. The extent of glycolysis in diluted preparation of mammalian muscle

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