中文摘要：

肌肉的宰后嫩化机制一直是国内外肉品科学研究的一个热点，目前认为肌肉宰后嫩度的改善主要归因于内源性水解酶作用所引起的肌原纤维蛋白的有限降解。钙激活酶虽然是宰后嫩度改善的一个主要贡献者，但不是惟一的，而是多种内源酶类协同作用的结果。本文综述了溶酶体组织蛋白酶、蛋白酶体、钙激活酶在宰后嫩化过程的作用；介绍了细胞凋亡的特点、通路及凋亡酶，并对细胞凋亡酶对宰后嫩度改善的潜在贡献进行了讨论；最后分析了细胞凋亡酶和钙激活酶在宰后成熟过程中的交互作用及共同贡献于肌肉宰后嫩化的可能性。

英文摘要：

The mechanism of postmortem tenderization of muscle has been the focus of meat science for years. It is generally accepted that improvement of meat tenderness during postmortem aging mainly results from limited degradation of myofibrillar proteins by endogenous proteolytic enzymes. Calpains are widely considered to be a major contributor, but not only ones to postmortem improvement of meat tenderness, which is the result of multi-enzymatic interaction. The roles of lysosomal cathepsins, proteasomes and calpains during postmortem tenderization of meat were briefly reviewed in the paper. The characteristics of apoptosis, activating pathways and caspases were introduced, meanwhile the potential contribution of caspases to postmortem tenderization was also discussed. In the last, the possibilities of interactions between caspases and calpains and contribution of both proteases together to meat tenderization were also analyzed in the review.