The effect of soybean trypsin inhibitor (STI) on the degradation of silver carp myofibrillar proteins caused by an endogenous myofibril-bound serine proteinase (MBSP) was studied. Soybean trypsin inhibitor was purified to homogeneity and added to myofibril to investigate its effect on preventing myofibrillar protein degradation. In the absence of STI, incubation at 55℃ for 30 min caused the degradation of myosin heavy chain. The degradation of actin and tropomyosin could also be detected after prolonged incubation. Compared with control, in the presence of STI, with final concentration of 0.75μg?mL^-1, proteolysis of myofibrillar proteins was greatly suppressed, the result showed that STI was an effective inhibitor in preventing degradation caused by MBSP. As the integrity of myosin heavy chain (MHC) and actin was the most important factor forming the elasticity of surimi, this result suggested the possibility that STI is applicable in surimi production in order to enhance the elasticity that is the quality of the final products.