Effects of Temperature, pH and Substrate Concentration on the Kinetics of Salivary Alpha- Amylase Activity among Cigarette Smokers in Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Alpha- amylase enzyme was characterized from the saliva samples collected from one hundred healthy adult smokers and fifty non smokers (control) in order to determine the effects of temperature, pH and substrate concentration on the kinetics of the enzyme. The analysis of the saliva samples revealed specific activities ranging from 1.25 to 2.20U/mg for smokers and 1.23 to 2.10U/mg for non smokers, with mean values of 1.70 ± 0.33U/mg and 1.72 ± 0.30U/mg respectively. The Michaelis constant (Km) values of 3.30 ×10–2 mg/ml and 3.37×10–2mg/ml observed for smokers and non smokers were obtained from the double reciprocal plot of initial velocity(1/VO) and substrate concentration(1/[S]). Maximum activities were obtained at an optimum temperature of 40ºC and an apparent pH of 7.0 for both subjects. Therefore, this prospective study shows that cigarette smoking has no effects on the kinetics of salivary alphaamylase activity

Keywords

• Velocity
• Michaelis constant
• enzyme kinetics
• temperature