Yes,amylase work best in neutralized medium.
There are three major enzymes in saliva. These enzymes are amylase, Lingual lipase, and Kallikrein. There are four antimicrobial enzymes that help kill bacteria, including lysozyme, salivary lactoperoxide, lactoferrin, and immunoglobulin A.
Carbohydrate digestion happens mostly in the mouth and esophagus, surprisingly. This combines with the fact that the enzymes in saliva that cause digestion stop functioning when they reach the stomach.
Hydrochloric acid is not produced in the mouth or salivary glands. Salivary glands produce saliva, which helps break down food through enzymes like amylase. Hydrochloric acid is produced in the stomach by parietal cells to aid in digestion.
Amylase is not active in the stomach, the environment is too acidic. This is why the pancrease produces and secretes amylase into the duodenum after food leaves the stomach, to replace the amylase secreted by salivary glands and denatured by stomach acid.
Amylase is produced by the salivary glands and works in the mouth to break down chardohydrates(digests starch into maltose). It only works for a short amount of time because when you swallow the food it is inhibated by the acid in the stomach. Amylase works best at a pH of 7.
All enzymes have an optimal pH in which they can function, the addition of vinegar (an acid) will denature the protein in the enzyme, and it will be unable to catalyze a reaction.
The stomach breaks down mainly proteins into smaller polypeptides. However, amylase will not break anything down in the stomach because it is denatured by the acid. Salivary amylase will break down amylose, a type of starch, but only in the few seconds of mastication. Once the bolus reaches the stomach, the salivary amylase is no longer active. Carbohydrates will be broken down again in the small intestine, where pancreatic amylase will make a return after the chyme is neutralized into a basic solution.
HCl activates pepsinogen to form pepsin, which is the active form of the enzyme pepsin necessary for protein digestion in the stomach. However, HCl does not directly affect salivary amylase. Salivary amylase works optimally at a neutral pH in the mouth before food reaches the stomach, where it begins the digestion of starch into smaller sugars before being inactivated by stomach acid.
The enzyme that breaks down water and minerals in digestion is called salivary amylase, which is found in saliva. Salivary amylase helps to break down starches into simpler sugars, while also aiding in the breakdown of minerals present in food.
Salivary amylase is found in the mouth and has a pH of 7. It's pH is neutral because, obviously, it is in the mouth and we don't want to have an acid or base in our mouth now do we? It's substrate (or what it acts upon) is usually starches and the products of this action usually contains maltose. Hope this helps! Source: My IB Biology HL class...and my textbook. :D
Insulin is a protein.
No, enzymes like salivary amylase will denature when subjected to the low pH of the gastric juices. This is why there are similar, but slightly different enzymes released in the stomach. Some (like pepsin) are only activated through the high hydrochloric acid concentration.