Beetroot Experiment
Few weeks back I got to know that my friend had started drinking and though she is well aware of the consequences of excessive drinking. After connecting with her, I wanted to know if alcohol concentration in spirits would affect the cells in the body. Thus, I decided to test my theory by adapting a class beetroot experiment to my investigation.
The aim of this experiment is to investigate the effect of alcohol concentration on a biotic cell membrane. The human body cannot live long with damaged cells because they are the building blocks of life. Cell membranes are phospholipid bilayers meaning they are composed of lipids and proteins. The membrane-bound organelle, vacuole, in a cell is accustomed to maintain structure and shape of the cell …show more content…
The alcohol disrupts the tertiary protein structure causing gaps between the hydrogen bonds; separating side chains. The proteins denature and introduce gaps in the membrane because the side chains bond with the ethanol to produce new hydrogen bonds which disrupts the original hydrogen bonds that maintain the protein structure. These gaps allow the release of relatively large molecules such as pigment to pass through the cell membrane. As well, Ethanol molecules are slightly negative causing bonds between amino acid chains, R-groups, to break hydrogen bonds and form bonds with the ethanol instead. Therefore, introducing larger gaps in the membrane for molecules to pass through as the phospholipid bilayer is disturbed. Furthermore, cholesterol present in the phospholipid bilayer is soluble in ethanol and dissolves in high concentrations of ethanol. The phospholipid bilayer allows more molecules to seep through because membrane becomes more fluid, larger gaps are formed, from the absence of cholesterol. In short, ethanol is frequently used in the fermentation of alcoholic drinks and I believe it may have an effect on our cell membranes. Thus, I will be experimenting the effect of ethanol on the activity of the cell membrane by the release of the anthocyanin pigment by measuring the absorption of red light [635nm]. I should be able to observe the surrounding colour intensity to be proportional to the cellular damage sustained by the cell due to the increasing permeability of the cell membrane caused by ethanol. I would like to choose an organism which is rich in anthocyanin because it would illuminate bright colours of red and/or purple. Examples, eggplant, red apple, pomegranate seeds, dragon fruit skin and/or raspberries will be tested for pigment release in my preliminary
The aim of this experiment is to investigate the effect of alcohol concentration on a biotic cell membrane. The human body cannot live long with damaged cells because they are the building blocks of life. Cell membranes are phospholipid bilayers meaning they are composed of lipids and proteins. The membrane-bound organelle, vacuole, in a cell is accustomed to maintain structure and shape of the cell …show more content…
The alcohol disrupts the tertiary protein structure causing gaps between the hydrogen bonds; separating side chains. The proteins denature and introduce gaps in the membrane because the side chains bond with the ethanol to produce new hydrogen bonds which disrupts the original hydrogen bonds that maintain the protein structure. These gaps allow the release of relatively large molecules such as pigment to pass through the cell membrane. As well, Ethanol molecules are slightly negative causing bonds between amino acid chains, R-groups, to break hydrogen bonds and form bonds with the ethanol instead. Therefore, introducing larger gaps in the membrane for molecules to pass through as the phospholipid bilayer is disturbed. Furthermore, cholesterol present in the phospholipid bilayer is soluble in ethanol and dissolves in high concentrations of ethanol. The phospholipid bilayer allows more molecules to seep through because membrane becomes more fluid, larger gaps are formed, from the absence of cholesterol. In short, ethanol is frequently used in the fermentation of alcoholic drinks and I believe it may have an effect on our cell membranes. Thus, I will be experimenting the effect of ethanol on the activity of the cell membrane by the release of the anthocyanin pigment by measuring the absorption of red light [635nm]. I should be able to observe the surrounding colour intensity to be proportional to the cellular damage sustained by the cell due to the increasing permeability of the cell membrane caused by ethanol. I would like to choose an organism which is rich in anthocyanin because it would illuminate bright colours of red and/or purple. Examples, eggplant, red apple, pomegranate seeds, dragon fruit skin and/or raspberries will be tested for pigment release in my preliminary