Enzymes are biological catalysts, which are essential for carrying metabolic reactions in the human body including the breakdown of food for digestion, absorption and energy production. All biological reactions within human cells depend on enzymes (Wolfenden 1). It is essential for humans to have well-functioning enzymes to break down large molecules into smaller units. As a matter of fact, in the absence of normal functioning enzymes, the human body would cease to exist because chemical reactions that are required to maintain the body function would not occur fast enough. I have a lot of interest in health and human nutrition. Therefore I wanted to examine the breakdown properties of a digestive enzyme while under the influence of a strong inhibitor. For my experiment I chose amylase as an enzyme and starch as a substrate (which is broken down into glucose by Amylase). I selected Copper Sulphate as enzyme inhibitor against the concentration of 2% of Amylase solution. Light absorbance was the method used to …show more content…
Amylase hydrolyses (breaks down) starch and glycogen into more simple and readily digestible forms of sugar (glucose). Commercially available Amylase solutions can be easily used to breakdown complex carbohydrates (e.g. starch) into simpler forms of sugars (e.g. disaccharides and monosaccharaides). Copper Sulphate can block the activity of Amylase, which is a known non-competitive irreversible enzyme inhibitor. The light absorbent method can be used to study this phenomenon of breakdown and blockade of breakdown of starch in the laboratory. After studying these properties of Amylase and Copper sulphate I designed my experiment to study the inhibitory effect of Copper Sulphate on the enzymatic activity of 1% and 2% Amylase solution. Starch was used as a substrate and a calorimeter to detect the light absorbance to confirm enzymatic breakdown and its blockage by copper