DEGRADATION OF PROTEOGLYCANS IN THE SKELETAL MUSCLE OF PACIFIC ROCKFISH (SEBASTES SP.) DURING ICE STORAGE

Soluble collagen, proteoglycans and two lysosomal enzymes known to degrade proteoglycans were studied during ice storage of skeletal muscle from Pacific rockfish. The solubility of muscle collagen progressively increased during storage in ice for 7 days. Proteoglycans isolated from prerigor muscle by extraction with guanidine HCl and density gradient ultracentrifugation contained only 43 μg hexuronic acid/100 g of wet tissue. The sulfated glycosaminoglycans portion of proteoglycans were isolated by trypsin digestion of an extract from muscle acetone powder and contained 58 μg hexuronic acid/20 g of acetone-dried muscle tissue. Sulfated glycosaminoglycans had several components which separated by sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Electrophoresis of sulfated glycosaminoglycans from stored rockfish revealed disappearance/decrease of specific zones after 5 days at 0C. The degradation of proteoglycans occurs in postmortem fish muscle and this may contribute to the destabilization of the extracellular matrix and texture softening during postharvest storage of fish.