A vacoule is an empty space in the cytoplasm, a membrane enclosed sac, that is filled with water and various solutes. Vacoules are surrounded by a membrane known as the Tonoplast. Vacoules are major elements in the grown of cells. The cell can increase it's size by filling its vacoule(s) with various materials(mainly Water) and the expanding Vacoule inturn increases the cells over-all size while investing minimal in new materials for manufacturing more cytoplasm, inorder to increase cell size.
Most young, immature plant cells contain many small vacoules, but as they mature those small vacuoles combine into one large central Vacoule.
A Vacoule
Food Vacoules are formed by the process of phagocytosis. When food is taken into the cell, it is englufed by the cell membrane, this englufment is the formation of a food vacoule, since the item being carried is food. As the cell membrane englufes the food it pinches off becoming a totally separate food vacoule. Thus From this information we can determine that Vacoules are made of the same material that the cell membrane is, it is a plasma membrane, which is made from, The Carbos(Glycoprotiens and Glycolipids) are connected to the inside of the vacoule, because when the cell membrane pinches off to become a food vacoule the carbos are connected to the extracellular part of the cell (the outside of the cell) and the membrane pulls itself in, inverting itself so that the once extracellular part is now on the inside of the newly formed vacoule/vesicle, and the cytoplasmic surface is still touching the cytoplasm. Vacoules are very useful to cells and single cell organisms for the removal of wastes from the cell, these wastes can include cellular wastes from reactions in the organelles, to excess water in a cell. See a picture of Cell Removing Excess Water!When the vacoule is being formed from endocytosis(that whole process of the cell membrane pinching off and forming a vacoule) and it is taking in water instead of food the process is called pinocytosis and just as a recap when it is taking in food the process is phagocytosis. See A picture Of this Process!