Abstract:

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), glycolysis indexes and meat quality indexes were measured on different
skeletal muscles of Bamei lambs slaughtered at 5, 6, 8 and 12 months of age. Based on these measurements, we studied
the correlation between AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity and meat quality. The results showed that the
AMPK activity displayed a significantly decreasing tendency with increasing age (P ＜ 0.05) and was significantly higher
in longissimus dorsi than in biceps femoris and triceps brachii (P ＜ 0.05). AMPK activity had a highly significant positive
correlation with muscle glycogen content, lactic acid (LD) content and hexokinase activity (P ＜ 0.01), but had a significant
negative correlation with b* value (P ＜ 0.05) and a negative correlation with L* value, a* value, shearing force and cooked
meat yield (P ＞ 0.05). Therefore, AMPK activity has correlations with meat quality indexes, including muscle glycogen
content, hexokinase, lactic acid content, meat color, shearing force and cooked meat yield, and AMPK may improve meat
quality by regulating glycolysis.

Key words: AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), glycolysis, meat quality