FREE AMINO-ACIDS AND NUCLEOTIDE-RELATED COMPOUNDS IN MILKFISH (CHANOS-CHANOS) MUSCLES AND VISCERA

Free amino acids (FAAs) and nucleotide-related compounds in white musc le, dark muscle, and the viscera of milkfish (Chanos chanos) were anal yzed by an automatic amino acid analyzer and high-performance Liquid c hromatography. Histidine was the most prominent FAA in milkfish white muscle, accounting for 63% of the total FAAs. In dark muscle, histidin e accounted for 33%, and taurine, 38%. The most abundant FAA in the vi scera was taurine followed by glutamic acid, alanine, and histidine. T he viscera contained a much lower amount of histidine than both muscle s. Inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP) was the major nucleotide compound in white muscle and its level was about 3 times higher than that in dark muscle. The IMP level in the viscera was far less than those in muscl es; however, the viscera contained more hypoxanthine and xanthine.