Is meat alive?

[Moontanman]

When you buy a steak are the individual cells still alive?

 

Michael

[Boerseun]

Life certainly exist at the cellular level, seeing as the individual cells metabolize and procreate asexually through division. A human or any other multicellular animal can be said to be simply a colony of individual animals who banded together for the common good. Problem is, that through this colonialism, cells have become very specialised in their function, and are totally dependent on other cells to do certain functions for them. For instance, a brain cell cannot exist without the cells making up the lungs providing them with oxygen - both of them in turn dependent on the cells making up the heart to deliver said oxygen.

 

So, to cut a long story short, no. Your steak won't be alive, because the cells making up the muscle tissue in your steak have died a few minutes after the cow died, from asphyxiation. But they won't die at the same time, because a cow is actually just a colony of cells - but they would die very short afterwards.

[Moontanman]

Life certainly exist at the cellular level, seeing as the individual cells metabolize and procreate asexually through division. A human or any other multicellular animal can be said to be simply a colony of individual animals who banded together for the common good. Problem is, that through this colonialism, cells have become very specialised in their function, and are totally dependent on other cells to do certain functions for them. For instance, a brain cell cannot exist without the cells making up the lungs providing them with oxygen - both of them in turn dependent on the cells making up the heart to deliver said oxygen.

 

 

So, to cut a long story short, no. Your steak won't be alive, because the cells making up the muscle tissue in your steak have died a few minutes after the cow died, from asphyxiation. But they won't die at the same time, because a cow is actually just a colony of cells - but they would die very short afterwards.

 

 

Ok, there is one fly in the ointment, why do organs used for transplant not die immediatly after the person they come from dies? Muscle tissue lives longer than organs with out oxygen so does this jive with what you said or i am looking at it wrong?

 

Michael

[CraigD]

Ok, there is one fly in the ointment, why do organs used for transplant not die immediatly after the person they come from dies?

They do.

 

The conventional definition of “live” is “metabolize”. Nearly all soft animal tissue cells stop metabolizing within a few minutes of being deprived of a supply of oxygenated blood. If excessive decomposition is prevented (for example, by being kept as cool as possible without freezing), and their blood supply restored (by restarting a “clinically dead” patients heart, or being transplanted to a new body), this tissue can begin metabolizing again, “self-repairing” damage due to decomposition that may have occurred while it was “powered down”.

 

In short, “dead” tissue can “come back to life”, provided that it has not decomposed too much for its “metabolic machinery” to resume functioning.

 

The precise mechanics by which cells decompose (Autolysis) is a complicated and interesting subject, but a detailed understanding of it isn’t required to understand why dead tissue can be transplanted into living animals, and resume normal metabolism.

[Moontanman]

They do.

 

The conventional definition of “live” is “metabolize”. Nearly all soft animal tissue cells stop metabolizing within a few minutes of being deprived of a supply of oxygenated blood. If excessive decomposition is prevented (for example, by being kept as cool as possible without freezing), and their blood supply restored (by restarting a “clinically dead” patients heart, or being transplanted to a new body), this tissue can begin metabolizing again, “self-repairing” damage due to decomposition that may have occurred while it was “powered down”.

 

In short, “dead” tissue can “come back to life”, provided that it has not decomposed too much for its “metabolic machinery” to resume functioning.

 

The precise mechanics by which cells decompose (Autolysis) is a complicated and interesting subject, but a detailed understanding of it isn’t required to understand why dead tissue can be transplanted into living animals, and resume normal metabolism.

 

Ok I see what you mean, may dormant might be a better word to call meat that could restart and dead for meat that cannot.

 

Michael

[CraigD]

Ok I see what you mean, may dormant might be a better word to call meat that could restart and dead for meat that cannot.

The term “dormant”, which means literally “sleeping”, is already used to refer to cells that are metabolizing, but not doing a significant amount of their intended function (eg: nerves not firing, glands not excreting hormones, muscles not contracting).

 

I think the term “viable”, which literally means “able to live”, is a better one for whole or partial organs or other tissue or fluids used in transplants.