The Effects of Concentration Changes on Porcine Pancreatic α-Amylase Activity
Introduction
Starch, a complex polysaccharide comprised of glucose monomers, is used as a storage compound in the plants it is found to be present in. As a result it is a renewable and biodegradable source of food for humans and many animals that devour these plants (Man et al. 2013). In 1831 a discovery was made by Erhard Leuchs that when mixed with human saliva, starch molecules are broken down into simpler compounds. (Butterworth, Ellis, Warren 2011). These polysaccharides made of glucose monomers are broken down into maltose, a disaccharide made of two glucose units. Further experimentations in 1833 found that an enzyme, later known as amylase, present in the …show more content…
These variations in results of the starch being metabolized show that the rate at which the starch is being metabolized varies as well while it travels down the digestive tract (Butterworth, Ellis, Warren 2011). The variations of the rate occur for a variety of reason including differences in pH levels in different compartments of the digestive tract, increasing temperatures as you travel down the digestive tract and farther into the body of an organism, and decreasing amounts of saliva, and therefore amylase, as you travel down the digestive tract. Upon beginning this experiment, the hypothesis was made that the concentration of the enzyme α-amylase from a porcine pancreas would be directly proportional to the reaction rate. If the concentration of the enzyme in a solution decreased, then so would the rate of disappearance of the starch in the …show more content…
That is to say that with higher concentration, less time was taken to break all the glycosidic linkages between the maltose molecules. Figure 1 depicts these results clearly. From figure 2, which contains the highest amylase concentration tested, as well as from figure 6, which contains the lowest amylase concentration tested, it is evident that with a higher concentration of enzymes present in the solution, the less starch was present within a given time period. The hypothesis and prediction stated at the end of the introduction are not consistent with these
Introduction
Starch, a complex polysaccharide comprised of glucose monomers, is used as a storage compound in the plants it is found to be present in. As a result it is a renewable and biodegradable source of food for humans and many animals that devour these plants (Man et al. 2013). In 1831 a discovery was made by Erhard Leuchs that when mixed with human saliva, starch molecules are broken down into simpler compounds. (Butterworth, Ellis, Warren 2011). These polysaccharides made of glucose monomers are broken down into maltose, a disaccharide made of two glucose units. Further experimentations in 1833 found that an enzyme, later known as amylase, present in the …show more content…
These variations in results of the starch being metabolized show that the rate at which the starch is being metabolized varies as well while it travels down the digestive tract (Butterworth, Ellis, Warren 2011). The variations of the rate occur for a variety of reason including differences in pH levels in different compartments of the digestive tract, increasing temperatures as you travel down the digestive tract and farther into the body of an organism, and decreasing amounts of saliva, and therefore amylase, as you travel down the digestive tract. Upon beginning this experiment, the hypothesis was made that the concentration of the enzyme α-amylase from a porcine pancreas would be directly proportional to the reaction rate. If the concentration of the enzyme in a solution decreased, then so would the rate of disappearance of the starch in the …show more content…
That is to say that with higher concentration, less time was taken to break all the glycosidic linkages between the maltose molecules. Figure 1 depicts these results clearly. From figure 2, which contains the highest amylase concentration tested, as well as from figure 6, which contains the lowest amylase concentration tested, it is evident that with a higher concentration of enzymes present in the solution, the less starch was present within a given time period. The hypothesis and prediction stated at the end of the introduction are not consistent with these