Post-mortem analysis in three muscles of Red Neck Ostrich (Struthio Camelus Massaicus)

A description of the pelvic limb musculature of ostrich (Red Neck) is given. Muscle tissues were obtained from muscle iliotibialis lateralis pars preacetabularis, muscle femorotibialis medius and muscle fibularis longus. The histochemical results revealed the presence of two types of fibres: slow-twitch fibres (type I) and fast-twitch intermediate fibres (type IIA). A higher incidence of type I compared to type IIA fibres in muscle iliotibialis lateralis pars preacetabularis and muscle femorotibialis medius was noticed. The immunohistochemical results revealed that in this species calpain/calpastatin system was localized in various parts of the muscles, although μ-calpain and m-calpain totally disappeared at 4 days post-mortem. Calpastatin and p-94 were present during all the period considered (0, 2 days, 4 days and 6 days post-mortem). In this study changes in enzymatic activities of μ and m-calpain were observed, particularly the activity of μ and m-calpain decrease rapidly during post mortem storage.