Talk:Rigor mortis

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What is meat technology? Joerite 08:20, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Rigimortis [Incorrect Spelling]

  • This term, often slurred in speech (in my experience), is much like "law abiding" where I've heard MANY people say "law-biting" and this is simply incorrect. Is there any way to add this term to automatically move to "Rigor Mortis" for those who are unaware of the proper spelling?
    • Make misspelled titled page and redirect it too hear: #REDIRECT[[Rigor mortis]] Joerite 08:20, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Temperature

The article says that rigor mortis varies with temperature, but does not say what this relationship is. Does cold accelerate or delay the process? -- 125.238.203.52 12:07, 9 June 2007 (UTC)The process of rigor mortis has an optimal temperature of 35°c where the muscle tissue breaks down at a fast rate. For the purpose of the meat industry the process must be managed and slowed down to avoid spoilage. For the purpose of tenderizing or dry-aging temperature of 1 to 2°c is optimal.

[edit] Duration

The duration (40 minutes) seems to be incorrect. Other sources say that it lasts days. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.119.242.94 (talk) 10:32, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] suggestions for re-wording

I'll be breaking this section down, paragraph, by paragraph. My suggestion will be bolded.

"To preface the following information, the body experiences different, physical, things after death. There is a reason for it and here is the technical anwser."- Dude, do I really need to say why this needs to go?? This just screams "Here is the verry wordy, confusing, difficult, long answer as to why the body goes through rigor. If you are not experienced in this field of study, too bad.


"After a muscle contracts, ATP expenditure is required to release the myosin head of a thick filament from its binding site on the thin filament[1]. Since all metabolic processes have come to a halt in a dead body, no ATP is being produced. Therefore, because of a lack of ATP, the myosin head cannot be released from the actin filament, and the sarcomere cannot relax. Because this happens in muscles all over the body, they become "stiff" and "locked" into place." - Ok, something about ATP is required to make muscles move. When there is no ATP, the muscles can't move anymore.


ATP is required to reuptake calcium into the sarcomere's sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Additionally, when a muscle is relaxed, the myosin heads are returned to their "high energy" position, ready and waiting for a binding site on the actin filament to become available. Because there is no ATP available, previously released calcium ions cannot return to the SR. These leftover calcium ions move around inside the sarcomere and may eventually find their way to a binding site on the thin filament's regulatory protein. Since the myosin head is already ready to bind, no additional ATP expenditure is required and the sarcomere contracts. When this process occurs on a larger scale, the disturbing twitches and gruesome postures associated with rigor mortis can occur. - Uhh, something about the chemical process of moving the muscles???? This need to be reworded. But, the part of the disturbing twiches and postures does not need to be re-worded. It can be left as is.


"Rigor mortis begins to manifest after about 3 hours after death, and lasts about 72 hours. It then disappears as proteolytic enzymes from lysosomes break down the crossbridges; that is the myosin heads detach from the actin filaments. This is known as resolution of rigor." - The first sentence is absolutely perfect. It seriously does not need to be re-worded. The 2nd sentence....its still to hard to understand for someone who isnt experienced in the field.


"More specifically, what happens is that the membranes of muscle cells become more permeable to calcium ions. Living muscle cells expend energy to transport calcium ions to the outside of the cells. The calcium ions that flow into the muscle cells promote the cross-bridge attachment between actin and myosin, two types of fibers that work together in muscle contraction. The muscle fibers ratchet shorter and shorter until they are fully contracted or as long as the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and the energy molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) are present. However, muscles need ATP in order to release from a contracted state (it is used to pump the calcium out of the cells so the fibers can unlatch from each other). ATP reserves are quickly exhausted from the muscle contraction and other cellular processes. This means that the actin and myosin fibers will remain linked until the muscles themselves start to decompose.[1]" - Right after is says "More specifically," it just sreams "The more confusing, long answer of the above paragraph is..." This part needs to be re-written badly....


I'm sure your wondering "If you gave all these suggestions, why don't you re-write it?" Well....I known nothing about rigor. I came to this article and got even more confused what it is......I can't possibly write abot something I dont know......so take these suggestions as something from a reader's point of view. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.221.194 (talk) 02:03, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Oh em gee. Not a doctor? Tough.

Along with the above poster, I came to this page and left more confused about what it was and what caused it than ever. Wiki has devolved into a collection of two types of pages -- error-filled fanboy rants and overly technical "look how much I know!" journal entries. The rigor mortis entry is laughably inaccessible except to those who already know what it is. Everyone still remembers what an encyclopedia IS...right?