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Plastination is a technique or process used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts, first developed by Gunther von Hagens in 1977. [1] 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. [2]
Four steps are followed in the standard process of plastination: fixation, dehydration, forced impregnation in a vacuum, and hardening. [3] Water and lipid tissues are replaced by curable polymers, which include silicone, epoxy, and polyester-copolymer. [3]
The first step of plastination, fixation, [4] frequently uses a formaldehyde-based solution, and serves two functions. Dissecting the specimen to show specific anatomical elements can be time-consuming. Formaldehyde or other preserving solutions help prevent decomposition of the tissues. They may also confer a degree of rigidity. This can be beneficial in maintaining the shape or arrangement of a specimen. A stomach might be inflated or a leg bent at the knee, for example.
After any necessary dissections have taken place, the specimen is placed in a bath of acetone (freezing point −95 °C; −139 °F) at −20 to −30 °C (−4 to −22 °F). The volume of the bath should be 10 times that of the specimen. The acetone is renewed two times over the course of six weeks. The acetone draws out all the water and replaces it inside the cells. [5]
In the third step, the specimen is then placed in a bath of liquid polymer, such as silicone rubber, polyester, or epoxy resin. In a partial 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 with gas, heat, or ultraviolet light, to harden it. [4]
Specimens, which can vary from a full human body to a small piece of an animal organ, are known as 'plastinates'.[ citation needed ] Once plastinated, the specimens and bodies are further manipulated and positioned prior to curing (hardening) of the polymer chains.[ citation needed ]
In November 1979, Gunther von Hagens applied for a German patent, proposing the idea of preserving animal and vegetable tissues permanently by synthetic resin impregnation. [6] Since then, von Hagens has applied for further US patents regarding work on preserving biological tissues with polymers. [7] [8]
With the success of his patents, von Hagens went on to form the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, Germany in 1993. The Institute for Plastination, along with 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. [9]
Other methods have been in place for thousands of years to halt the decomposition of the body. Mummification used by the ancient 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. [10] [ unreliable source? ]
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. [11]
Paraffin impregnation was introduced in 1925, and the embedding of organs in plastic was developed in the 1960s.[ citation needed ]
Body preservation methods current to the 21st century are cryopreservation, which involves the cooling of the body to very low temperatures to preserve the body tissues, plastination, and embalming. [12]
Other methods used in modern times include the Silicone S 10 Standard Procedure, the Cor-Tech Room temperature procedure, the Epoxy E 12 procedure, and the Polyester P 35 (P 40) procedure. [13] The Silicone S 10 is the procedure most often used in plastination and creates opaque, natural-looking specimen. [14] Dow Corning Corporation's Cor-Tech Room Temperature Procedure is designed to allow plastination of specimen at room temperature to various degrees of flexibility using three combinations of polymer, crosslinker, and catalyst. [15] According to the International Society for Plastination, the Epoxy E 12 procedure is used "for thin, transparent, and firm body and organ slices", while the Polyster P 35 (P 40) preserves "semitransparent and firm brain slices". [13] Samples are prepared for fixation through the first method by deep freezing, [16] while the second method works best following 4–6 weeks of preparation in a formaldehyde mixture. [17]
Plastination is useful in anatomy, serving as models and teaching tools. [18] It 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 multispecies 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. [19] The plastinated specimens retain their dilated conformation by a positive pressure air flow during the curing process, which allows them to be used to teach both endoscopic technique and gastrointestinal anatomy.
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. [20]
TTT sheet plastinates for school teaching and lay instruction provide a thorough impression of the complexity of an animal body in just one specimen.
North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, North Carolina, uses both plastic coating (PC) and plastination (PN) to investigate and compare the difference in the two methods. The PC method was simple and inexpensive, but the PN specimens 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. [21]
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio was the first school in the United States to use this technique to prepare gross organ specimens for use in teaching. [22] The New York University College of Dentistry, [18] Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, [23] University of Warwick, and University of Northumbria [24] use collections of plastinates as teaching aids. The University of Vienna [25] and the University of Sheffield [26] have their own plastination laboratories. The first medical school in India to have a plastination lab was A.I.I.M.S, New Delhi with others following suit like Christian Medical College, Vellore, Government Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida etc.
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. About 90% of the donors registered are German. Von Hagens' body donations are now being managed by the Institute for Plastination (IfP) [27] established in 1993. [28]
A number of religious sects prohibit organ donation. [29] [30] Ultra-Orthodox Jews oppose post mortem organ donation, and have tried to pass laws against unclaimed cadavers being used in research. [31] A number of religious organizations, including Catholic [32] [33] and Jewish [34] ones, object to the display of plastinated body parts at public exhibitions.
For the first 20 years, plastination was used to preserve small specimens for medical study. In the early 1990s, the equipment was developed to make plastinating whole body specimens possible, each specimen taking up to 1,500-man-hours to prepare. [35] 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 Gunther von Hagens' exhibitions have subsequently been hosted by museums and venues in more than 50 cities worldwide, attracting more than 29 million visitors.[ citation needed ].
Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibitions are the original, precedent-setting public anatomical exhibitions of real human bodies, and the only anatomical exhibits that use donated bodies, willed by donors to the Institute for Plastination for the express purpose of serving the Body Worlds mission to educate the public about health and anatomy. To date, more than 10,000 people have agreed to donate their bodies to Institute for Plastination. [27]
In 2004, Premier Exhibitions began their "Bodies Revealed" exhibition in Blackpool, England, which ran from August through October 2004.[ citation needed ] In 2005 and 2006, the company opened their "Bodies Revealed" and "Bodies...The Exhibition" in Seoul, Tampa, and New York City.[ citation needed ] The West Coast exhibition site opened on 22 June 2006 at the Tropicana Resort and Casino Las Vegas.[ citation needed ]As of June 2009 [update] , BODIES... The Exhibition is showing at the Ambassador Theatre (Dublin) in Dublin, Ireland. [36] The exhibition was in Istanbul, Turkey, until the end of March 2011.
Plastination galleries are offered in several college medical schools, including the University of Michigan (said to possess the nation's largest such lab), [37] Vienna University, [38] and the JSS Medical College [39] Gunther von Hagens maintains a permanent exhibition of plastinates and plastination at the Plastinarium in Guben, Germany. [40]
Anatomy is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its beginnings in prehistoric times. Anatomy is inherently tied to developmental biology, embryology, comparative anatomy, evolutionary biology, and phylogeny, as these are the processes by which anatomy is generated, both over immediate and long-term timescales. Anatomy and physiology, which study the structure and function of organisms and their parts respectively, make a natural pair of related disciplines, and are often studied together. Human anatomy is one of the essential basic sciences that are applied in medicine, and is often studied alongside physiology.
Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures visible without a microscope. Although one may divide microscopic anatomy into organology, the study of organs, histology, the study of tissues, and cytology, the study of cells, modern usage places all of these topics under the field of histology. In medicine, histopathology is the branch of histology that includes the microscopic identification and study of diseased tissue. In the field of paleontology, the term paleohistology refers to the histology of fossil organisms.
The history of anatomy spans from the earliest examinations of sacrificial victims to the advanced studies of the human body conducted by modern scientists. Written descriptions of human organs and parts can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Egyptian papyri, where attention to the body was necessitated by their highly elaborate burial practices.
Body Worlds is a traveling exposition of dissected human bodies, animals, and other anatomical structures of the body that have been preserved through the process of plastination. Gunther von Hagens developed the preservation process which "unite[s] subtle anatomy and modern polymer chemistry", in the late 1970s.
Moulage is the art of applying mock injuries for the purpose of training emergency response teams and other medical and military personnel. Moulage may be as simple as applying pre-made rubber or latex "wounds" to a healthy "patient's" limbs, chest, head, etc., or as complex as using makeup and theatre techniques to provide elements of realism to the training simulation. The practice dates to at least the Renaissance, when wax figures were used for this purpose.
A fascia is a generic term for macroscopic membranous bodily structures. Fasciae are classified as superficial, visceral or deep, and further designated according to their anatomical location.
Dissection is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause of death in humans. Less extensive dissection of plants and smaller animals preserved in a formaldehyde solution is typically carried out or demonstrated in biology and natural science classes in middle school and high school, while extensive dissections of cadavers of adults and children, both fresh and preserved are carried out by medical students in medical schools as a part of the teaching in subjects such as anatomy, pathology and forensic medicine. Consequently, dissection is typically conducted in a morgue or in an anatomy lab.
Bodies: The Exhibition is an exhibition showcasing human bodies that have been preserved through a process called plastination and dissected to display bodily systems. It opened in Tampa, Florida on August 20, 2005. It is similar to, though not affiliated with, the exhibition Body Worlds. The exhibit displays internal organs and organic systems, bodies staged in active poses, and fetuses in various stages of development.
A cadaver, often known as a corpse, is a dead human body. Cadavers are used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Students in medical school study and dissect cadavers as a part of their education. Others who study cadavers include archaeologists and arts students. In addition, a cadaver may be used in the development and evaluation of surgical instruments.
Skalmierzyce is an urbanized village in Ostrów Wielkopolski County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Ostrów Wielkopolski and 106 km (66 mi) south-east of the regional capital Poznań. It adjoins the town of Nowe Skalmierzyce.
Anatomy for Beginners is a television show created by Gunther von Hagens.
A prosection is the dissection of a cadaver or part of a cadaver by an experienced anatomist in order to demonstrate for students anatomic structure. In a dissection, students learn by doing; in a prosection, students learn by either observing a dissection being performed by an experienced anatomist or examining a specimen that has already been dissected by an experienced anatomist.
Gunther von Hagens is a German anatomist, businessman and lecturer. He developed the technique for preserving biological tissue specimens called plastination. Von Hagens has organized numerous Body Worlds public exhibitions and occasional live demonstrations of his and his colleagues' work, and has traveled worldwide to promote its educational value. The sourcing of biological specimens for and the commercial background of his exhibits has been controversial.
A zoological specimen is an animal or part of an animal preserved for scientific use. Various uses are: to verify the identity of a (species), to allow study, increase public knowledge of zoology. Zoological specimens are extremely diverse. Examples are bird and mammal study skins, mounted specimens, skeletal material, casts, pinned insects, dried material, animals preserved in liquid preservatives, and microscope slides. Natural history museums are repositories of zoological specimens
Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux was a French anatomist and naturalist.
Fascia training describes sports activities and movement exercises that attempt to improve the functional properties of the muscular connective tissues in the human body, such as tendons, ligaments, joint capsules and muscular envelopes. Also called fascia, these tissues take part in a body-wide tensional force transmission network and are responsive to training stimulation. As of 2018 the body-wide continuity of this tensional system has been expressed in an educational manner within the Fascial Net Plastination Project. The FNPP brought together experts in anatomy, dissection, and plastination, and it was the first project of its kind to plastinate a complete human fascia specimen.
The conservation and restoration of human remains involves the long-term preservation and care of human remains in various forms which exist within museum collections. This category can include bones and soft tissues as well as ashes, hair, and teeth. Given the organic nature of the human body, special steps must be taken to halt the deterioration process and maintain the integrity of the remains in their existing state. These types of museum artifacts have great merit as tools for education and scientific research, yet also have unique challenges from a cultural and ethical standpoint. Conservation of human remains within museum collections is most often undertaken by a conservator-restorer or archaeologist. Other specialists related to this area of conservation include osteologists and taxidermists.
Fossil preparation is a complex of tasks that can include excavating, revealing, conserving, and replicating the ancient remains and traces of organisms. It is an integral part of the science of paleontology, of museum exhibition, and the preservation of fossils held in the public trust. It involves a wide variety of techniques, from the mechanical to the chemical, depending upon the qualities of the specimen being prepared and the goals of the effort. Fossil preparation may be executed by scientists, students or collections personnel, but is often undertaken by professional fossil preparators.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Schleip</span> German [[Fascia]] Researcher](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/RobertSchleip.jpg)
Robert Schleip is a German psychologist, human biologist and author, best known for his research in the field of fascia. His work includes numerous scientific papers and books, which have contributed to the understanding of fascia and its role in musculoskeletal health. He serves as the Director of the Fascia Research Group at both the University of Ulm and the Technical University of Munich. Schleip is also the Founding Director of the Fascia Research Society, the Research Director of the European Rolfing Association and Vice President of the Ida P. Rolf Research Foundation.
The Fascial Net Plastination Project is an anatomical research initiative established in 2018 aimed at plastinating and studying the human fascial network. The collaboration was initiated by Robert Schleip as a joint effort between Body Worlds, Fascia Research Group, and the Fascia Research Society. The project focuses on preserving the fascia, a complex connective tissue network that plays a crucial role in the human body's structure and function.
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