The period before rigor mortis during which muscle is relatively extensible and elastic is called the delay phase. Completion of rigor mortis is signalled by total depletion of creatine phosphate and other sources of rephosphorylation. The color of muscle in living animal is bright red due to abundance of oxygen. Fresh meat when cut has dark red color but on exposure to atmospheric air within few minutes changes to brighter red color. This happens due to oxygenation of myoglobin.
Proteolytic breakdown is limited.
Water binding Due to fall in pH and denaturation of proteins the water binding capacity decreases. Factors affecting post-mortem changes 1. Any external or internal stress activates the homeostatic mechanism which generates variable physiological responses so as to tide over the stress symptoms. These are executed through hormones. Adrenal hormones provide stress resistance.