In Vitro Perfused Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) Tails: A Potential Model for Studying Post-Harvest Tissue Chemistry and Metabolism in Valuable Fish Tissues

Abstract

Perfusion of fish tissues may provide a model for manipulating their properties post-harvest. Perfusion of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) tails in vitro with oxygenated physiological saline at 5°C showed delivery to the muscle was at the ratio of 5.8:1 red:white muscle, respectively. Treatment with sodium nitroprusside (a nitric oxide donor) did not improve delivery to the white muscle. Perfusion at 15°C with and without ascorbic and uric acids showed that the inclusion of antioxidants reduced protein oxidation but did not reduce lipid peroxidation in the red muscle. This technique, with further development, shows potential as a post-mortem research tool.

Keywords:

• antioxidants
• blood flow distribution
• Chinook salmon
• oxidation
• perfusion

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the University of Canterbury for the grant of a PhD scholarship to N. P. L. Tuckey and the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Ltd. for the grant of a PhD scholarship to G. J. A. Janssen. They also wish to thank the Isaac Salmon Farm for donating the fish and the New Zealand National Heart Foundation for funding that established the analytical capabilities of their laboratory. The authors appreciate the comments made by two anonymous reviewers and Dr. Leonard Forgan, which have significantly improved the final product.