Name:

Exercise 8: Chemical and Physical Processes of Digestion: Activity 3: Assessing Pepsin Digestion of Protein Lab Report

Pre-lab Quiz Results

You scored 100% by answering 5 out of 5 questions correctly.

1. Where in the body does protein digestion begin?

You correctly answered: b. the stomach

2. The substrate for pepsin is

You correctly answered: d. protein and peptides.

3. In this activity the substrate you will be using to detect protein digestion is
You correctly answered: d. BAPNA.

4. Negative results with the negative controls

You correctly answered: d. are expected and validate the experiment.

5. A spectrophometer measures
You correctly answered: c. optical density.

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Experiment Results
Predict Question:
Predict Question: At which pH do you think pepsin will have the highest activity?
Your answer : a. pH 2.0

Stop & Think Questions:

Which of the following tubes are negative control tubes?
You correctly answered: e. tubes 3 and 4

An optical density greater than zero indicates that

You correctly answered: e. BAPNA digestion has occurred and pepsin is active.

Experiment Data:

Tube No. Reagent 1 Reagent 2 Reagent 3 Boiled Time Temp. Optical

Density
1 Pepsin BAPNA pH 2.0 Buffer + 60 37 0.00
2 Pepsin BAPNA pH 2.0 Buffer - 60 37 0.40
3 Pepsin DeIonized Water pH 2.0 Buffer - 60 37 0.00
4 DeIonized Water BAPNA pH 2.0 Buffer - 60 37 0.00
5 Pepsin BAPNA pH 7.0 Buffer - 60 37 0.03
6 Pepsin BAPNA pH 9.0 Buffer - 60 37 0.00

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Post-lab Quiz Results
You scored 100% by answering 4 out of 4 questions correctly.

1. Pepsin would be most active

You correctly answered: b. in the stomach.

2. Which two tubes validated the results of the experiment?

You correctly answered: c. tubes 3 and 4

3. With more enzyme activity the optical density

You correctly answered: a. increased.

4. If pepsin were digesting an actual protein substrate, the product would be

You correctly answered: c. peptides and amino acids.

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Review Sheet Results
1. Describe the effect that boiling had on pepsin and how you could tell that it had that effect.
Your answer:
You did not answer this question.

2. Was your prediction correct about the optimal pH for pepsin activity? Discuss the physiological correlation behind your
results.
Your answer:
You did not answer this question.

3. What do you think would happen if you reduce the incubation time to 30 minutes for tube 5?
Your answer:
You did not answer this question.

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