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Ph on Amylase Function

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Submitted By izziair
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The effect of pH on salivary amylase

Introduction: Saliva in the mouth contains the protein salivary amylase which acts on starches to break them down into mono- and disaccharides.(2) Saliva has been found to have an average pH level of about 6.78 +/- when tested in various locations of the mouth from multiple healthy individuals.(1) Saliva acts as a buffer against any possible changes in the pH from acids produced from bacteria, maintaining the oral cavity at an almost neutral pH level.(3) If saliva was introduced to a differing pH than its optimal pH, it would cause the amylase action to either decrease or cease functioning all together if the pH changed dramatically enough. With the given information, it could be said that salivary amylase would be at its optimal functioning level at around the average saliva pH of 6.78.(1) A change in pH would be detrimental to amylase given the protein nature of amylase and the instability of proteins in more acidic or basic pH concentrations.(3) When proteins are surrounded by an acidic pH, they become unstable due to the increase in positive charge from the disassociated hydrogen ions, the positive charge acting to pull the proteins out of their folded shape.(3) In similar opposition, when proteins are surrounded by a basic pH, they are instead pulled apart by the negative charge produced by the increased amount of hydroxide ions.(3)

Methods: In this experiment, a saliva solution was procured by first rinsing the mouth with distilled water, then taking another quantity of distilled water into the mouth and mixed with saliva for 2 minutes. The prepared saliva wash was spit into a dixie cup and diluted with distilled water with roughly a 1:2 ratio of saliva solution to distilled water.
Next, 7 test tubes were pipetted with 2.5 ml each of a specific pH buffer. Tube 1 contained a buffer of

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