|
An individual muscle is made up of muscle fibers. The muscle is surrounded by a connective tissue sheet, the epimysium. Within a muscle, fibres are grouped into bundles which varies in different muscles and determines to a certain extent the gain or texture of raw meat.
The connective tissue surrounding the bundles, the perimysium, varies in thickness between and within muscles. The individual muscle fibres within the bundles are also enclosed in a connective tissue framework, the endomysium.
Muscle fibres do not increase in number of myofibrils. Within and between the muscles fatty deposits occur.
Each muscle fibre is an elongated cylinder with many nuclei. The nuclei are situated peripherally just under the sarcolemma, the sheath enclosing the fibre.
The fibres are made up of myofibrils, which are surrounded by a complex system of tubules and vesicles, the sarcoplasmic reticulum. The spaces between the fibrils are filled with sarcoplasm, the semi-fluid material containing many of the enzymes of muscle as well as other materials such as fat droplets, myoglobin, ATP and glycogen.
Fig The fibrous microstructure of meat
|
Participants