Kidney-Based Molecular Diagnostics of Freshwater Drowning: Comparative Evaluation of SP-A2 and AQP5 in an Animal Model

Background/Objectives: Establishing drowning as the cause of death remains one of the most challenging tasks in forensic pathology, particularly when classical autopsy findings are absent, nonspecific, or compromised by decomposition. Molecular biomarkers may provide objective adjunctive evidence in such cases. This study investigated the diagnostic utility of Aquaporin-5 (AQP5) and Surfactant Protein A2 (SP-A2) measured in renal tissue as potential biomarkers of freshwater drowning and evaluated the influence of different freshwater environments on their expression.