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Transcript

Hi, thank you for tuning in to Penta A 42.42 FM, Andrew here with the latest and greatest in human bodily functions. Today, we’ll be talking about a special hormone that asks, like my favorite fictional character Hamlet, “to pee? or not to pee?”

So Mineralocorticoids are part of the class of steroid hormones and they are heavily involved in controlling the frequency of your pee. They’re pretty much the gatekeepers of awesome. Why and how do they control this you ask? Well, the body needs to be in homeostasis with its sodium levels and the MVP that regulates this amount is the one and only, Mineralocorticoid. It follows a negative feedback loop and determines whether electrolytes such as sodium should be secreted or conserved until the excess leaves on the choo choo train of freedom.This hormone is produced in the cortex of the adrenal gland and, like it’s brothers and sisters in the steroid hormone family, is hydrophobic. Mineralocorticoid is also regulated by two hormones, angiotensin II and andrenocorticotrophic hormone. It is also derived from the lipid, Cholesterol and is therefore, fat soluble but here comes a problem. How can this hormone travel in the bloodstream then? It’s not water soluble and blood is water-based. Well, this clever hormone has a way around that. Mineralocorticoids bind to a serum globulin, a transport protein and the fact that it is fat soluble helps even more in that it is able to enter a cell through its bi lipid fat layer.

Now here’s a fun fact about the Mineralocorticoid, it’s structure, like it’s siblings is very complex compared to other hormones. In fact, it is so complex that it has a half life of around sixty minutes whereas the amino acid based hormone, epinephrine has only a half life of one minute. Also, the name Mineralocorticoid comes from the idea that it controlled the flow of sodium, a mineral. Neat, right?

Well, that’s it for today, tune in next time for another hot topic on the human body system! Stay tuned for some sweet learning about Obama care and why it sucks by our very own conservative republican, Steve.

Citations
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10467229
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26/box/A517/?report=objectonly
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineralocorticoid

BIO #AWESOME

Abstract

We preformed this lab in hopes of uncovering the various qualities present in the cellular respiration of yeast. In this specific case, my partner and I decided to find out how yeast underwent cellular respiration in different temperatures. After recording the amount of CO2 released from the yeast in different temperatures, we were able to figure out that the yeast in the ice box (roughly 1°C) produced significantly less CO2 than the control yeast that respired in room temperature (roughly 21°C) and finally that the yeast in the warm bath (roughly 45°C) produced at a much more rapid pace than both the cold and room temperature yeast.                         

                               

Introduction

In cellular respiration, the process of glycolysis requires the presence of oxygen in order to continue the cycle and continue producing NADH that is a major component in producing ATP. When oxygen is not available, a substance such as yeast then undergoes fermentation, producing ethyl and releasing carbon dioxide. The effectiveness of this process can be measured by the amount of carbon dioxide released from the entire fermentation reaction.

Hypothesis

If  yeast undergoing fermentation were to be placed in a hot temperature, it would be much more active and produce more carbon dioxide than yeast that is undergoing fermentation in a room temperature setting whereas yeast in a cold temperature would produce little to no carbon dioxide and have the process of fermentation slowed drastically because the molecular motion involved within these processes would be sped up dramatically in a hot temperature and slowed drastically in a cold temperature.

Materials

Water

3 grams of sugar

3 grams of yeast

5 grams of Salt

Digital Scale

Weighing paper

5 syringes

5 test tubes

1 ice chest

1 room of room temperature

1 warm bath

Procedure

1.       Measure 3 test tubes with 35 ml water in it

2.       Place 1 gram of yeast in each test tube along with 1 gram of sugar and .2 grams of salt

3.       Attach the syringes with the corks and wait 5 minutes for the fermentation process to begin

4.       Then place each beaker in their corresponding areas, one in an ice bath, one in a warm bath and one in room temperature

5.       Record the temperatures of each different station and record the amount of CO2 produced in each vial every minute for five minutes

6.       profit

Results

Time(minutes)  Control (21°C)      Cold (1°C)                Warm (45°C)
0                        0                        0                                  0
1                        0.4                        0.8                                  1
2                        1.2                        0.8                                  2.2
3                        1.8                        0.8                                  4
4                        2.6                        0.8                                  6.4
5                        3.6                        0.8                                  8.6

Conclusion

After conducting the experiment accurately and precisely, we’ve found the vial in the warm bath produced significantly more CO2 than both the control and the cold vial. We also found the cold vial to produce virtually no CO2 throughout the entire five minutes of fermentation in the ice bath. We found the control to produce CO2 but not as fast as the vial in the warm bath. This is because of molecular motion and how it affects the processes involved within fermentation. In order to create ethyl, molecules need to move around and energy is required and when the warm bath supplies a lot of heat energy, the process is catalyzed whereas in the cold bath, heat energy is taken away and the process slows to a stop.

Citations

Mr. Quick’s bio lectures

Crash Course biology