What water properties are responsible for the physiological temperature interval limits of warm-blooded organisms?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how water's thermal properties within the physiological temperature interval influence warm-blooded organisms, highlighting phase transitions and molecular clustering that affect protein stability and heat exchange.

Contribution

It identifies a dynamic phase transition in water near 42°C and links water's molecular behavior to physiological temperature limits in warm-blooded organisms.

Findings

Water undergoes a dynamic phase transition near 42°C.

Intracellular water's phase transition may trigger protein denaturation.

The minimum heat capacity at 36°C supports stable heat exchange.

Abstract

The weighty evidences of specific transformations of the thermal motion in pure water in the physiological temperature interval (PTI) from (30 +(-) 3)o C to (42 +(-) 3)o C for warm-blooded organisms are presented. It is shown that near the right end of the PTI (42 +(-) 3)o C the crystal-like thermal motion in water transforms to argon-like one (i.e. the dynamic phase transition (DPT) occurs). It is show that the similar transformation takes also place in water-Mioglobin solutions. It is proposed that the DPT takes also place in the intracellular water, where it stimulates the denaturation of proteins. The restriction of the PTI on the left of (30 +(-) 3)o C is naturally explained by the clusterization of water molecules, which strongly increases when temperature drops. The middle, ((36 +(-) 1)o C), of the PTI for warm-blooded organisms is disposed at the minimum of the heat capacity at constant pressure, that forwards to the stability of heat-exchange for bio-cells.