The rôle of epimysial, perimysial and endomysial collagen in determining texture in six bovine muscles.

Epimysium, perimysium and endomysium were purified in high yield by a new extraction method from six bovine muscles of increasing toughness. In each case, the mean perimysial collagen fibre diameter, the total collagen content, the relative proportions of the major collagen types (I and III) and the collagen cross-link content were measured. Correlations were found between both collagen fibre diameter and collagen content of perimysial and endomysial connective tissue and meat toughness. No meaningful link could be made between textural quality of the meat and the relative content of types I and III collagen. Significant differences were seen, however, in both the total heat-stable cross-link content and the proportion of heat-stable collagen cross-links relative to heat-labile cross-links present in epimysium, perimysium and endomysiuim and the relative toughness of each muscle. The results are discussed with respect to the rôle of collagen in determining meat texture and toughness.