Significance of Vitamin E Supplementation, Dietary Content of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, and Preslaughter Stress on Oxidative Status in Pig As Reflected in Cell Integrity and Antioxidative Enzyme Activities in Porcine Muscle

The present study investigates the combined effects of feed-induced increase in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) content and/or α-tocopherol content in pig muscles and preslaughter stress on cell integrity. Cell integrity was determined by plasma lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, and antioxidative status of muscle was measured by activities of the antioxidative enzymes catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase. Preslaughter stress increased LDH activity, reflecting loss in cell membrane integrity independent of increased content of PUFA and/or α-tocopherol. However, feed-induced increase of PUFA decreased the LDH activity in plasma immediately after slaughter. Catalase activity in the muscle tissue increased as a consequence of the high-PUFA diet, which may indicate an increased demand caused by introduction of oxidative labile PUFA. Keywords: Pig; stress; vitamin E; antioxidative enzymes; LDH; PUFA