{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T13:37:40Z","timestamp":1785418660869,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]],"date-time":"2026-07-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785196800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Heilongjiang Provincial Undergraduate University","award":["YQJH2025035"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["YQJH2025035"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008534","name":"Northeast Agricultural University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["54961212"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["54961212"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008534","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["54961212"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["54961212"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0515nd386","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Pork tenderness is a critical quality trait. Pork with divergent shear force (n = 10, 20 pigs in total) revealed a positive association between tenderness and branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) concentrations. Therefore, large white pigs (initial body weight 100.88 kg) were fed a control diet or diets supplemented with 1% leucine (Leu) or valine (Val) (n = 6, 18 pigs in total). Compared with the control, Leu or Val significantly reduced shear force, intramuscular fat, myofiber diameter, and cross-sectional area (p &lt; 0.05). These interventions were associated with a potential shift in myofiber type, indicated by upregulated MyHC I and IIa and downregulated MyHC IIb and IIx (p &lt; 0.05). The supplemented groups showed lower SFA content and an n-6\/n-3 ratio, alongside enriched MUFA and n-3 PUFA content (p &lt; 0.05). Antioxidant capacity significantly improved across muscle, liver, and serum, evidenced by elevated T-AOC, T-SOD, GSH-Px, and CAT and reduced MDA levels (p &lt; 0.05). Lipid metabolism and antioxidant genes were also significantly upregulated (p &lt; 0.05). Overall, Leu and Val may improve pork tenderness and nutritional value, which appear to be associated with the modulation of myofiber type, lipid metabolism, and antioxidative status, offering a potential nutritional strategy for producing high-quality pork.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16152317","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]],"date-time":"2026-07-28T07:55:41Z","timestamp":1785225341000},"page":"2317","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Leucine and Valine Improve Pork Tenderness by Driving Myofiber Transition, Optimizing Lipid Profiles and Enhancing Antioxidant Defense"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Xingyu","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dianjing","family":"Fu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Junhui","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongzhi","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yutong","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinbo","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100213","DOI":"10.1016\/j.advnut.2024.100213","article-title":"Perspective: The Place of Pork Meat in Sustainable Healthy Diets","volume":"15","author":"Drewnowski","year":"2024","journal-title":"Adv. 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