Effects of Se-enriched yeast on the amelioration of atrazine-induced meat quality degradation.

Atrazine (ATR) is herbicide that causes serious harm to the environment and threatens human food safety. Se-enriched yeast is the best organic selenium source for protecting cells from damage caused by poisonous substances. To explore mechanism of ATR on meat quality degradation and potential protective effects of Se-enriched yeast on ATR-induced muscle injury, quails were treated with ATR and/or Se-enriched yeast for 28 days. The results found ATR disrupted muscle fiber structure and decreased pH, tenderness, water-holding capacity, essential amino acid content and polyunsaturated fatty acid content. ATR aggravated oxidative stress and inflammation by inhibiting Nrf2 pathway and activating NF-κB pathway, ultimately causing apoptosis. However, Se-enriched yeast alleviated ATR-induced alterations in muscle chemical and physical properties by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation. Taken together, these results revealed that ATR exposure caused meat quality degradation and Se-enriched yeast had the potential to counteract ATR-induced myotoxicity by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation.