Effect of Chinese Rice Wine on the Endogenous Protease Activity, Myofibrillar Degradation, and Quality Characteristics in Topmouth Culter (Culter alburnus)

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of rice wine (Jinbiao, Yinbiao, Wunianchen, Nv’erhong) on the endogenous protease activity, myofibrillar degradation, and quality characteristics of topmouth culter (Culter alburnus). Rice wine had a pH of 4.3 and calcium ions ranging from 89.30 to 123.70 μg/mL. Nv’erhong rice wine had the highest total phenolic content of 583.38 μg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/mL, while Wunianchen rice wine (WNC) showed the strongest total antioxidant capacity of 87.29 U/mL. WNC presented the optimum inhibitory effect on endogenous proteases of calpain and cathepsin B, D, and L, delaying the degradation of myosin heavy chain and α-actinin, which are important to muscle softening. The quality characteristic evaluation indicated that the addition of rice wine could maintain the hardness and chewiness, increase the springiness of the fish fillet, as well as inhibit the total volatile basic nitrogen production. These results suggest that rice wine had effects of inhibiting endogenous proteases, delaying myofibrillar degradation, and maintaining the sensory quality of topmouth culter.