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Plastination is a technique used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample.^[1]

Contents 1 Process 2 History 3 Other Plastination methods 4 Uses of Plastinated Specimens 5 Ethical concerns 6 Plastination Exhibitions 7 Further reading 8 External links 8.1 Links from the Institute of Biomedical Science 8.2 Link of Plastination in Spanish 8.3 Film references 9 References

[edit] Process

There are five steps in the standard process of plastination: fixation, dehydration, forced impregnation in a vacuum, and hardening.^[2] Water and lipid tissues are replaced by curable polymers. Curable polymers used by plastination include silicone, epoxy and polyester-copolymer.^[2]

The first step of plastination is fixation.^[3] This simply means that the body is embalmed, usually in a formaldehyde solution, in order to halt decomposition.

After any necessary dissections take place, the specimen is then placed in a bath of acetone. Under freezing conditions, the acetone draws out all the water and replaces it inside the cells.^[4]

In the third step, the specimen is then placed in a bath of liquid polymer, such as silicone rubber, polyester or epoxy resin. By creating a vacuum, the acetone is made to boil at a low temperature. As the acetone vaporizes and leaves the cells, it draws the liquid polymer in behind it, leaving a cell filled with liquid plastic.^[5]

The plastic must then be cured, either with gas, heat, or ultraviolet light, in order to harden it.^[6]

A specimen can be anything from a full human body to a small piece of an animal organ, and they are known as 'plastinates'. Once plastinated, specimens and bodies can be manipulated and positioned.

[edit] History

In November 1978 Dr. Gunther von Hagens applied for a German patent (DE patent 2710147). He proposed the idea of preserving animal and vegetable tissues permanently by synthetic resin impregnation. Since then, Dr. von Hagens has applied for further US patents (including U.S. Patent 4,205,059  and U.S. Patent 4,320,157 ) regarding work on preserving biological tissues with polymers.

With the success of his patents, von Hagens went on to form the Institute of Plastination in Heidelberg, Germany in 1993. The Institute of Plastination, along with Dr. von Hagens made their first showing of plastinated bodies in Japan in 1995, which drew more than three million visitors. The Institute maintains three international centres of plastination: in Germany, Kyrgyzstan and China.^[7]

[edit] Other Plastination methods

Other methods have been in place for thousands of years to halt the decomposition of the body. Mummification used by the Egyptians is a widely known method which involves the removal of body fluid and wrapping the body in linens. Prior to mummification, Egyptians would lay the body in a shallow pit in the desert and allow the sun to dehydrate the body.^[8]

Formalin, an important solution to body preservation, was introduced in 1896 to help with body preservation. Soon to follow formalin, color preserving embalming solutions were developed to preserve lifelike color and flexibility to aid in the study of the body.^[9]

Paraffin impregnation was introduced in 1925 and the embedding of organs in plastic was developed in the 1960s.

Body preservation methods current to the twenty-first century are cryopreservation which involves the cooling of the body to very low temperatures to preserve the body tissues, plastination and embalming.^[10]

Other Modern Methods^[11]

The SILICONE S 10 - Standard Procedure

S 10 for opaque and flexible specimens

The COR-TECH Room Temperature Procedure

COR TECH PR-10 (lowest viscosity) COR TECH PR-12 (low viscosity) COR TECH PR-14 (high viscosity)

The EPOXY E 12 - Procedure

E 12 for thin, transparent, and firm body and organ slices

The POLYESTER P 35 (P 40) - Procedure

P 35/P 40 for semitransparent and firm brain slices

[edit] Uses of Plastinated Specimens

Plastination is useful in anatomy as well as serving as models and teaching tools.^[12] Plastination is used at more than 40 medical and dental schools throughout the world as an adjunct to anatomical dissection.

Students enrolled in introductory animal science courses at many universities learn animal science through collections of multi-species large-animal specimens. Plastination allows students to have hands on experience in this field, without exposure to chemicals such as formalin. For example, plastinated canine gastrointestinal tracts are used to help in the teaching of endoscopic technique and anatomy.^[13] The plastinated specimens retain their dilated conformation by a positive pressure air flow, which allows them to be used to teach both endoscopic technique and gastrointestinal anatomy.

In another example, The Department of Animal Science and Industry at Kansas State reconstructed the skeleton of an acutely laminitic thoroughbred broodmare that had been euthanized. The final project was a complete, mobile skeleton that is used as a teaching aid in equine classes.^[14]

With the use of plastination as a teaching method of animal science, fewer animals have to be killed for research, as the plastination process allows specimens to be studied for a long time.^[15]

The North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, North Carolina uses both PC (plastic coating) and PN (plastination) to investigate and compare the difference in the two methods. The PC method was simple and inexpensive, but the plastinated specimens (PN method) were more flexible, durable, and lifelike than those preserved by the PC method. The use of plastination allowed the use of many body parts such as muscle, nerves, bones, ligaments, and central nervous system to be preserved.^[16]

The New York University College of Dentistry.^[17] and University of Warwick ^[18] use collections of plastinates as teaching aids. The University of Vienna has its own plastination laboratory.^[19]

[edit] Ethical concerns

Concern over consent of bodies being used in the plastination process has arisen. Over 20 years ago Von Hagens set up a body donation program in Germany and has signed over 9,000 donors into the plastinate program: 531 have already died. The program has reported an average of one body a day being released to the plastination process. Ninety percent of the donors registered are German. Although Von Hagens says he follows strict consent procedures for whole-body specimens, he maintains that "consent is not important for body parts." Von Hagens' body donations are now being managed by the Institute for Plastination (IfP)^[20] established in 1993.^[21]

[edit] Plastination Exhibitions

For the first 20 years plastination was used to preserve small specimens for medical study. It was not until the early nineties that the equipment was developed to make it possible to plastinate whole body specimens, each specimen taking up to 1,500 man hours to prepare.^[22] The first exhibition of whole bodies was displayed by von Hagens in Japan in 1995.

Over the next two years, Von Hagens developed the Körperwelten (Body Worlds) public exhibitions, showing whole bodies plastinated in lifelike poses and dissected to show various structures and systems of human anatomy. The earliest exhibitions were presented in the Far East and in Germany, and Body Worlds exhibitions have subsequently been hosted by museums and venues in 47 cities worldwide, attracting more than 26 million visitors.^[23]

In 2004 the publicly traded US company Premier Exhibitions Inc.^[24] began their "Bodies Revealed" exhibition in Blackpool, England which ran from August through October 2004. In 2005 and 2006 the company opened their Bodies Revealed^[25] and Bodies The Exhibition exhibitions in Seoul (South Korea), Tampa (Florida) and New York (NY) respectively. Another exhibition site in 2006 was the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston (Texas). The West Coast exhibition site opened on June 22, 2006 at the Tropicana Resort & Casino Las Vegas NV. As of February 2008^[update], "Bodies...the Exhibition" is showing at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Plastination galleries are offered in a few college medical schools including University of Michigan^[26] the Vienna University^[27] Gunther von Hagens maintains a permanent exhibition of plastinates and plastination at the Plastinarium in Guben, Germany.

[edit] Further reading

• "Heidelberg Plastination Folder" (Original title: "Heidelberger Plastinationshefter"). 1985/86, Institute for Anatomy at Heidelberg University
• Liselotte Hermes da Fonseca und Thomas Kliche (Hg.): Verführerische Leichen – verbotener Verfall. "Körperwelten" als gesellschaftliches Schlüsselereignis, Lengerich u.a.: Pabst Verlag 2006
• von Hagens, Gunther; Klaus Tiedemann and Wilhelm Kriz (March 1987). "The current potential of plastination". Anatomy and Embryology 175 (4): 411–21. doi:10.1007/BF00309677. PMID 3555158. 
• Whalley, Angelina (2005). Pushing the Limits: Encounters with Body Worlds Creator Gunther von Hagens. Heidelberg: Arts & Sciences. ISBN 3-937256-07-5. OCLC 61119531. 
• von Hagens, Gunther (2006). Body Worlds The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies. Heidelberg: Institute für Plastination. ISBN 3-937256-04-0. OCLC 69257041. 

[edit] External links

• VisDocta RESEARCH - GIANT SQUID WORLDS FIRST NATURALISATION
• A graphic guide to plastination at Science Buzz*
• Preservation by Plastination, on Body Worlds page
• Plastination website by Dr. Selcuk Tunali
• Polymer Preservation: The Process
• [1]Discovery, March 2004, 'Gross Anatomy by Alan Burdick'
• Little Death Drives is a literary novel about plastination and is available as a free download
• Picture story by German photographer Marc Steinmetz

[edit] Links from the Institute of Biomedical Science

• Plastination: Is it science or art?
• Plastination: Silicone Impregnation of Specimens (the standard S10 technique)
• Plastination: The Sheet Plastination Technique
• List of US patents by Gunther von Hagens
• PLASTINATION at The Medical University of Vienna
• International Society for Plastination
• The New Plastination Index Online

[edit] Link of Plastination in Spanish

• PLASTINACION.com

[edit] Film references

• "China Turns Out Mummified Bodies for Displays" New York Times
• "Exhibit Human" a documentary on plastination by Aaron Edell
• [2] "Plastination sample in 007 Casino Royale

[edit] References

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