Plastination

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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

[edit] Process

The centerpiece of plastination: "forced impregnation".

There are four 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.[4]

The plastic must then be cured, either with gas, heat, or ultraviolet light, in order to harden it.[3]

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

Hardening and posing of Plastinates

[edit] History

In November 1978 Gunther von Hagens applied for a German patent, proposing the idea of preserving animal and vegetable tissues permanently by synthetic resin impregnation.[5] Since then, von Hagens has applied for further US patents regarding work on preserving biological tissues with polymers.[6][7]

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 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.[8]

[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.[9]

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.[10]

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 twenty-first century are cryopreservation which involves the cooling of the body to very low temperatures to preserve the body tissues, plastination and embalming.[11]

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.[12] The Silicone S 10 is the procedure most often used in plastination and creates opaque, natural-looking specimen.[13] 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.[14] According to the International Society for Plastination, the Epoxy E 12 procedure is utilized "for thin, transparent, and firm body and organ slices", while the Polyster P 35 (P 40) preserves "semitransparent and firm brain slices".[12] Samples are prepared for fixation through the first method by deep freezing,[15] while the second method works best following 4–6 weeks of preparation in a formaldehyde mixture.[16]

[edit] Uses of Plastinated Specimens

Plastination is useful in anatomy as well as serving as models and teaching tools.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19]

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]

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.[21]

The New York University College of Dentistry.[17] and University of Warwick [22] use collections of plastinates as teaching aids. The University of Vienna has its own plastination laboratory.[23]

[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)[24] established in 1993.[25]

[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.[26] 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.[citation needed]

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 exhibitions in Seoul (South Korea), Tampa (Florida) and New York (NY) respectively.[citation needed] Another exhibition site in 2006 was the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston (Texas).[citation needed] The West Coast exhibition site opened on June 22, 2006 at the Tropicana Resort & Casino Las Vegas NV.[citation needed] As of June 2009, BODIES... The Exhibition is showing at the Ambassador Theatre (Dublin) in Dublin, Ireland.[27]

Plastination galleries are offered in a few college medical schools including University of Michigan[28] and the Vienna University[29] Gunther von Hagens maintains a permanent exhibition of plastinates and plastination at the Plastinarium in Guben, Germany.[citation needed]

[edit] References

 This article uses bare URLs. Please help improve this article by turning bare URLs into proper citations containing all of the information on the referenced work's title, date, publisher, publication, and author, so that the article remains verifiable in the future. (There are several templates available that can help to make formatting such citations simple.)
This page may also be able to help find problematic links. (March 2009)
  1. ^ Weiglein, A. H. (2005). "Overview & General Principles of the Plastination Procedures". 8th Interim Conf Plast (Ohrid). http://www.uqtr.uquebec.ca/plastination/Abstracts-2005.html#Weiglein-01-2005. Retrieved on January 27, 2009. 
  2. ^ a b von Hagens, Gunther; Klaus Tiedemann and Wilhelm Kriz (1987). "The current potential of plastination". Anatomy and Embryology 175 (4): 411–21. doi:10.1007/BF00309677. PMID 3555158. 
  3. ^ a b Henry, Robert W.; Larry Janick and Carol Henry (February 1997). "Specimen preparation for silicone plastination". Journal of the International Society for Plastination 12 (1). ISSN 1090-2171. http://www.uqtr.ca/plast-journal/vol12/1_Henry_13a17.pdf. Retrieved on January 27, 2009. 
  4. ^ a b Bickley, Harmon C.; Robert S.Conner, Anna N. Walker and R. Lamar Jackson (January 1987). "Preservation of tissue by silicone rubber impregnation". Journal of the International Society for Plastination 1 (1): 30–39. ISSN 1090-2171. http://www.uqtr.ca/plast-journal/vol1/jisp_1-1/Bickley_30a39.pdf. Retrieved on May 10, 2009. 
  5. ^ DE patent 2710147, , "Präparat aus biologischen verweslichen Objekten und Verfahren zu ihrer Herstellung", granted September 14, 1978  
  6. ^ US patent 4205059, , "Animal and vegetal tissues permanently preserved by synthetic resin", granted May 27, 1980  
  7. ^ US patent 4320157, , "Method for preserving large sections of biological tissue with polymers", granted March 16, 1982  
  8. ^ "Preservation by Plastination". BIODUR. http://www.biodurproducts.com/en/plastination/preservation_plastination.html. Retrieved on March 5, 2009. 
  9. ^ Rymer, Eric. "History of Burial Beliefs in Ancient Egypt". History Link 101. http://historylink101.net/egypt_1/religion_mummification_history.htm. Retrieved on May 11, 2009. [unreliable source?]
  10. ^ "Formaldehyde: Its Development And History Since 1868". Museum of Funeral Customs. Archived from the original on March 6, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050306094856/http://www.funeralmuseum.org/pdf/formaldehyde.pdf. Retrieved on May 11, 2009. 
  11. ^ US patent 5089288, , "Method for Impregnating Tissue Samples in Paraffin", granted February 18, 1992  
  12. ^ a b "Other Plastination Methods". International Society for Plastination. October 20, 1998. http://meduni02.edis.at/plast/plmeth.html. Retrieved on May 19, 2009. 
  13. ^ "The Silicone S 10". International Society for Plastination. 2008. http://isp.plastination.org/silicone.html. Retrieved on May 19, 2009. 
  14. ^ "The COR-TECH Room Temperature". International Society for Plastination. 2008. http://isp.plastination.org/cortech.html. Retrieved on May 19, 2009. 
  15. ^ "The Epoxy E 12". International Society for Plastination. 2008. http://isp.plastination.org/epoxy.html. Retrieved on May 19, 2009. 
  16. ^ "The Polyester P35/P40". International Society for Plastination. 2008. http://isp.plastination.org/polyester.html. Retrieved on May 19, 2009. 
  17. ^ a b "Life, Death, and One Man’s Quest to Demystify the Inner Realms of the Human Body". Nexus (New York University College of Dentistry). Fall 2004. http://www.nyu.edu/dental/nexus/issues/fall2004/vonhagens.html. Retrieved on February 13, 2009. 
  18. ^ Janick, L.; R. C. DeNovo and R. W. Henry (1997). "Plastinated Canine Gastrointestinal Tracts Used to Facilitate Teaching of Endoscopic Technique and Anatomy". Cells Tissues Organs 158: 48. doi:10.1159/000147910. 
  19. ^ Greene, E. A.; K. R. Smith, J. S. Pendergraft, R. H. Raub and M. J. Arns (August 1993). "Technical note: equine skeletal preservation techniques to enhance teaching effectiveness". Journal of Animal Science 71 (8): 2270–4. PMID 8376253. http://jas.fass.org/cgi/reprint/71/8/2270.pdf. 
  20. ^ KSUCVM Plastination Laboratory
  21. ^ Holladay SD, Hudson LC (1989). "Use of plastinated brains in teaching neuroanatomy at the North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine". Journal of the International Society for Plastination 3 (1): 15–17. http://www.uqtr.ca/plast-journal/vol3/Holladay_15a17.pdf. Retrieved on May 19, 2009. 
  22. ^ First University to Acquire von Hagens Plastinations for University Teaching
  23. ^ Vienna University Plastination Facility
  24. ^ http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/institute_for_plastination/mission_objectives.html
  25. ^ Singh, Debashis (March 2003). "Scientist or showman?". BMJ 326 (7387): 468. doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7387.468. PMID 12609939. 
  26. ^ Chambless, Ross (September 19, 2008). "TheLeonardo Podcast no. 1" (MP3). http://s3.amazonaws.com/leonardopodcast/TheLeonardoPodcast1.mp3. Retrieved on May 8, 2009. 
  27. ^ [1]
  28. ^ http://www.med.umich.edu/anatomy/plastinate/index.html
  29. ^ Plastination at the Vienna University

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

[edit] Links from the Institute of Biomedical Science

[edit] Link of Plastination in Spanish

[edit] Film references

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