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The physiological properties of ´Fuji´ apple fruits suffering from flesh browning were compared with those of uninjured intact fruits. Compared to uninjured fruit, faster electrolyte leakage was observed from brown-injured fruit tissue, suggesting impaired selective permeability of cell membrane in injured fruit. The CA stored fruits showed lower fatty acid content than the low tempature stored fruits and the lipid saturation index of brown-injured tissue was high. Therefore it was assumed that increased membrane permeability may be caused by abnormal fatty acid metabolism in CA-stored fruits. In addition, the accumulation of ethanol, detected in fruits suffered from flesh browning, could be also a cause of increment in membrane permeability. It was concluded that abnormal fatty acid metabolism and ethanol accumulation under CA condition make cell membrane more permeable, and the increased membrane permeability induced decompartmentation of phenolic compounds in vacuoles, resulting in contact with phenol oxidase that oxidized the compounds.
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