Investigation of pathophysiology of bath-related death: base on aquaporin and heat shock protein expressions

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K08878
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Legal medicine
• Research Institution: Kagoshima University
• Principal Investigator: HAYASHI Takahito 鹿児島大学, 医歯学域医学系, 准教授 (40512497)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 入浴死 / 法医学的死因診断 / 鑑別診断 / アクアポリン / 熱ショック蛋白 / 予防医学 / 社会問題

Outline of Final Research Achievements

For the purpose of clarifying pathophysiology of bath-related death, we next explored novel diagnostic marker of bathtub drowning using lungs obtained from animal experiment and forensic autopsy cases. In animal experiments, alveolar water channel, aquqporin(AQP)5 mRNA expression in hot water drowning mice (35, 38°C) was reduced significantly. Moreover, heat shock protein(HSP)a5 mRNA (HSP70 family) expression in hot water drowning mice (38, 41°C) was increased significantly. In forensic autopsy cases, we demonstrated a significant decrease in the expression of AQP5 and a significant increase in heat HSP70 expression in the lungs of bathtub-drowning using immunohistochemical analyses. Our results indicate that AQP5 and HSPa5 expression may be useful markers for the postmortem diagnosis of hot water drowning. We hope that our results can contribute to the advance of determining the cause of death in bath-related death and the prevention of these tragic deaths.

Free Research Field

法医学