preview

Amylase Is An Enzyme Commonly Found In Human Saliva. It

Decent Essays
Open Document

Amylase is an enzyme commonly found in human saliva. It is used to catabolize starch into glucose and maltose by lowering the activation energy barrier, and by breaking the alpha 1-4 bonds of amylose and amylopectin and the alpha 1-6 bonds of amylopectin. Amylase is found in one’s saliva and pancreas, and Porcrine Pancreatic α-Amylase is amylase that has been isolated from the pancreas of a pig. While amylase is effective at breaking down starch, in the normal saliva pH range of 6.02 to 7.14 (Schmidt-Nielsen, 1946), any pH environment outside of this range will decrease the reaction rate. The same goes for the temperature of the amylase’s environment. At a normal body temperature of around 37°C, the amylase functions at its fastest rate …show more content…

Through this experiment we found this prediction to be true; even though there is no true consensus on the exact optimum pH for alpha-amylase activity, all of the sources place it around 6.00 or 7.00.
Materials and Methods First, six different buffers were used and 5 mL of each buffer was added to six different test tubes. The six buffers were as follows: pH 4.00 was Potassium Biphthalate (Item # 280-4.00), pH 5.00 was Potassium Biphthalate/ Sodium Phosphate (Item # 280-5.00), pH 6.00 was Potassium Phosphate/ Sodium Phosphate (Item # 280-6.00), pH 7.00 was Sodium Phosphate/ Potassium Phosphate (Item # 280-7.00), pH 8.00 was Sodium Phosphate/ Potassium Phosphate (Item # 280-8.00), pH 9.00 was Sodium Bicarbonate/ Sodium Carbonate (Item # 280-9.00). All of the aforementioned hydrion buffer salts were obtained from Micro Essential Laboratories in Brooklyn, NY. Secondly, 1.5 mL of a 1% w/v α-Amylase solution from porcine pancreas, Type VI-B, ≥10 units/mg solid, from Sigma-Aldrich in St. Louis, MO, (Item # A3176-500KU) was added to each test tube, and the solutions in the test tubes were mixed. Next, 100 μL of 2% Iodine Solution, I2KI, from Carolina Biological Supply Company in Burlington, NC (item # 869093) was put into wells in several rows of seven different

Get Access