This brief video lesson discusses chemical reactions in the body and how enzymes assist in the process. Discussion/assessment questions and suggested supplemental resources are also included.

The purpose of this video lesson is to expand the student's knowledge about enzymes by introducing the antioxidant enzymes that are intimately involved in the prevention of cellular damage and eventual slowing of the aging process and prevention of several diseases. Students will learn that natural antioxidant enzymes are manufactured in the body and provide an important defense against free radicals. The topic of free radical action is introduced, covering how they are constantly generated in living cells both by "accidents of chemistry" and also by specific metabolic processes.

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This content resource provides the user with a visual representation of enzyme-substrate interactions resulting in a specific product. This is not a complete lesson, but would be beneficial for students as a review prior to an assessment or for teachers as a quick refresher on enzyme-substrate interactions.

This resource is a lab in which students are given a hypothetical DNA sequence for part of an enzyme. Using the universal genetic code, they will then determine the amino acid sequence coded for by the DNA. Differently shaped lego blocks will represent different amino acids. Students will construct the enzyme using legos.

In this activity, students investigate how a cell uses an enzyme to rid itself of a poisonous substance.

Students investigate the effect that fruit purees have on the setting of party jellies.

Students extract an enzyme from biological material and investigate the action of enzyme on different substrates. They will also demonstrate that some enzymes catalyse reactions result in the syntheis of new biomolecules.

In this lesson, students will predict, investigate, observe, and report on the effects that pH, concentration, and temperature have on catalase enzyme reactions. Students will conduct an experiment in which they will alter the pH, concentration, and temperature of the environment in which enzyme reactions are taking place.

This lab activity is designed for students to gain a general understanding of the characteristics of enzymes, their function and susceptibility to denaturing when exposed to a variety of environmental factors. In this activity, students will use pineapple juice as an enzyme and Jell-O as a substrate to illustrate an enzyme/substrate complex. The initial guided procedure will allow students to discover that the processing of food, specifically canned pineapple, will denature the enzymes and render them useless. The lab extension questions allow students to design and conduct two additional investigations that focus on the behavior, function and the effect that environmental factors have on enzyme activity. The environmental factors that students can explore include: temperature, pH, microwave radiation and detergents.

In this classroom lab, students will explore the characteristics of a particular enzyme and the factors that affect its ability to catalyze a reaction. Students will look at how the enzyme catalase (source of catalase is chicken liver) affects the break down of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. They design their own methods to answer the following questions: What substances contain the enzyme catalase? Why does the reaction stop? What is the effect of temperature on catalase function? What is the effect of pH on catalase function? Students collect and analyze data to answer reflection questions and complete a written lab summary that synthesizes data from the lab and knowledge of enzymes.

Students investigate how lipase activity changes with temperature and consider how indicators can help us to follow chemical reactions.

Students examine the rate of oxygen production by catalase in pureed potato as the concentration of hydrogen peroxide varies. The oxygen produced in 30 seconds is collected over water. Then the rate of reaction is calculated.

Students demonstrate how different plant materials show different amounts of catalase activity - and the most metabolically active tissues show the greatest activity. The procedure can be used to show differences in activity in imbibed and germinating seeds and in damaged or decaying plant material.

Students simulate a lactose tolerance test in this lab. They will combine milk with "patients' intestinal fluid samples," which consist of either water or a lactose solution. They then measure the amount of glucose produced over time and collect, analyze, and graph their data to determine which patients are lactose tolerant or lactose intolerant.

In this exercise, students will use StarBiochem to explore the structure of the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) and determine the relationship between the structure of a mutated form of PAH and the function of this mutated protein in patients with PKU.

In this activity, students work with 3% hydrogen peroxide and several different fruits and vegetables to determine which ones have the catalase enzyme.

Students investigate the action of salivary amylase on starch present in cooked rice. Simple tests for starch and its digestion product, maltose, are applied.