ABSTRACT
The Effects of Hypothermia Clinical hypothermia, ideally maintained between 6-10°C, significantly reduces the tissue metabolic rate and is the primary reason why preserved organs remain viable. Although the metabolic demand continues at about 10% of normal during hypothermia, the activity of the different enzymatic catalytic reactions is not uniformly affected by reduced temperatures. Most enzymes of normothermic animals show a 1.5 to 2.0 fold decrease in activity for every 10 °C decrease in temperature. Thus, the metabolic rate is suppressed by about 12 to 13 fold when the temperature is reduced form 37 “C (body temperature) to 0 °C , probably the lowest point of preservation temperature.1'3 Furthermore, membrane-bound enzymes systems. This difference is apparently due to the temperature-induced decrease in membrane fluidity via the solidification of the membrane-bound lipids.
