Why immobilised lactase

By using glucose test strips the concentration of the monosaccharide can be quickly estimated by looking at the color of the strip after its contact with the processed milk.

Figure 3: Milk, lactase enzyme and glucose test strips. In this experiment, a physical cross-linking process was conducted.

Calcium alginate beads were obtained following the procedure described in the JChemEd article I cited previously. Of course, you can use any kind of lactase enzyme supply I ran a similar experiment in the past and I used a different brand with no qualitative differences in terms of glucose production. The preparation of the sodium alginate solution is a quite long procedure. To do that, I added 2 grams of sodium alginate powder into ml of distilled water.

At least 3 hours of vigorous mixing are required to get a proper solution that results in a dark-yellow kind of color. Once the solution was ready, I added the content of 4 pills they correspond to enzyme units of lactase enzyme to that.

Since the pills contain other things along with the enzyme fillers and excipients , the resulting mixture was quite cloudy. The mixture was vigorously stirred for 30 minutes; that was added drop by drop by using either a pipette or a syringe to a previously prepared calcium chloride solution prepared by adding 1 gram of CaCl 2 in ml of distilled water.

The contact between the two substances, immediately gave rise to calcium alginate-lactase beads Figure 4, left. That procedure allowed to trap and immobilize the enzyme in the beads that became, as said before, a catalytic support the lactose contained in the milk can interact with.

When the addition of sodium alginate was completed, I moved to the second step which involved a simple filtration and washing with distilled water of the obtained beads Figure 4, right. The beads were used to pack up a 60 ml syringe a procedure which reminded me the packing of a chromatography column. See the final set-up in Figure 5. The procedure I followed afterward was very easy: the milk was poured in the column from the top of that, keeping the clip closed. Describe two advantages of using immobilised enzymes.

Using immobilised enzymes can be more expensive or cheaper. Explain why. When biological washing powders were first used, many people were allergic to the protease enzyme in them. Suggest one reason why the introduction of immobilised enzymes has resulted in fewer allergic reactions.

Lactose is a sugar found in milk. It cannot be absorbed into the blood, so it needs to be digested. Many people lack the enzyme lactase needed to digest it.

The lactose remains in their gut, where bacteria ferment it. The result is a build-up of gas that causes diarrhoea and wind. People with lactose intolerance require lactose-free milk. To produce this, immobilised lactase is added to milk. Some people can digest lactose and others cannot. Plan a simple experiment to show that lactase digests the lactose in milk to glucose. The enzymes used on a reagent stick are immobilised by sticking them onto the stick.

Chromosomes 3. Meiosis 4. Inheritance 5. Genetic Modification 4: Ecology 1. Energy Flow 3. Carbon Cycling 4. Climate Change 5: Evolution 1. Evolution Evidence 2. Natural Selection 3.

Classification 4. Cladistics 6: Human Physiology 1. Digestion 2. The Blood System 3. Disease Defences 4. Gas Exchange 5. Homeostasis Higher Level 7: Nucleic Acids 1. DNA Structure 2. Transcription 3. Translation 8: Metabolism 1.