Evaluating a Visking Tubing As A Model Gut

Question 1

What are the 3 steps to this experiment?

Answer 1

1. A visking tube is filled with a mixture of starch, glucose, fats and proteins and left for 30 minutes
2. The water is then tested for starch, glucose, fats and proteins
3. Starch, fat and protein molecules are too big to pass through the holes but glucose molecules are small enough to pass through them

Question 2

What are 3 similarities between the model and the gut?

Answer 2

~The food molecules are contained in a tube whose walls are permeable only to small molecules
~The food in the tube is a mixture of large and small molecules
~ The tube is surrounded by liquid that contains a low concentration of food molecules

Question 3

What are 3 differences between the model and the gut?

Answer 3

~The visiting tubing membrane is smooth, a gut lining is folded and folded again with a larger surface area
~A real gut is surrounded by blood flowing in vessels that take away the soluble products of digestion
~The visking tubing does not move the food around by muscular contractions

Question 4

Why is visking tubing used as a model gut?

Answer 4

It is a smooth selectively permeable membrane with pores in it
These pores are small holes that are large enough to allow water and other small molecules through