Histochemical characterisation and gene expression analysis of skeletal muscles from maremmana and aubrac steers reared on grazing and feedlot systems

This study aimed to characterise the fibre composition of Triceps brachii (TB) and Semimem-branosus (SM) muscles from 20 Maremmana (MA) and 20 Aubrac (AU) steers, and the effect of grazing activity in comparison with feedlot system. The histochemical method was performed with the m-ATPase method with an acid pre-incubation, thus allowing to distinguish type I, IIA, and IIB fibres. Additionally, on total RNA extracted from SM muscle, the expressions of atp1a1, mt-atp6, and capn1 genes were evaluated, in order to find potential associations with muscle fibre histochemical characteristics. In SM muscle, the MA steers had the greater frequency of oxidative fibres (type I and IIA) and the higher atp1a1 expression, in comparison to AU steers. Conversely, AU steers had a greater frequency of type IIB fibres, and the higher capn1 expression. A similar histochemical pattern was observed in TB muscle. The grazing activity was probably insufficient to determine differences both for fibre proportion and size, and gene expressions, except for mt-atp6 expression that was surprisingly highest in feedlot MA in comparison to other steers. These findings further the knowledge of muscle properties belonging to these breeds, and the effect of voluntary physical activity since few studies were available in this regard.