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Tonoplast Experiment

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Even though alcohol does not actually kill brain cells, it still can damage the brain. It does this by damaging the dendrites (Krucik, 2013) which are the branch-like ends of the brain cells. Dendrites are used for passing messages from one neuron to another, therefore damage to dendrites can cause severe cognitive problems. (Lexton, 2016)

Alcohols:
Ethanol is found in alcoholic beverages and is a two carbon molecule. (Wilmar, 2014)
Methanol, sometimes referred to as wood alcohol, can cause blindness and death and it is also a one carbon molecule. (Turnon, 2016) Propanol is fatal if consumed and is a three carbon molecule. One reason why they are so dangerous to living organisms is that they can damage dendrites, as mentioned before. However, many studies have come to conclusion that this is only possible if a human consumes a certain amount and concentration of alcohol. This is the reason why I am testing the effects at different concentrations: (0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%).
Methanol, …show more content…

Tonoplast is quite large and typically contains water. In beetroot plants, this membrane-bound vacuole (Tonoplast) also contains a water soluble red pigment, betacyanin, which is what gives beetroot its colour. (Bjarnadottir, 2014) Due to the fact that the pigment is water soluble, not lipid soluble, it remains in the vacuole when the cells are healthy. However if the integrity of a membrane is disturbed, then the contents of the vacuole will release into the surrounding environment. (Bjarnadottir, 2014)This usually means the cell is dead. If beetroot membranes are damaged-- red pigment will leak out into the surrounding environment. Although these cells are not the same as the dendrites they can still act as a model for a cellular damage analysis. This is why I have chosen beetroot to serve as my ‘biological membrane’. As well as this beetroot contains thiamine. (Bjarnadottir,

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