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Cyclic AMP Concentration during Slaughter of Pigs

Meat Science Research Laboratory, Agricultural Marketing Research Institute, A.R.S., U.S.D.A., Beltsville, MD 20705

Abstract

Since cyclic AMP (c-AMP) mediates the action of epinephrine, the feasibility of using c-AMP concentration as an index of degree of stress exerted by three slaughter methods was investigated. A biopsy technique was used to obtain about 400 mg of longissimus muscle from normal market weight pigs which were exsanguinated after electrical stunning, brain damage by gun shot or shackling. Samples were obtained at 10 min pre-exsanguination, immediately following stunning and 3-min post-exsanguination. At 0 min, the electrically stunned group had a slightly higher (P<.05) level of c-AMP than at –10 min, while for the brain trauma group, levels were higher at 0 min than at –10 min but the difference was not significant. At 3 min, all treatments resulted in higher (P<.05) levels of c-AMP than at 10 min pre-slaughter with the brain trauma group having a higher level than the other two, followed by a slightly but nonsignificantly higher level for electrical stunning than for shackling.