Fact Sheet: The Process of Plastination
For centuries, scientists have been searching for suitable techniques to preserve the human body for morphological studies, teaching and research. While decay is a vital process in nature, it is a major impediment to such studies. The invention of Plastination made the preservation of decomposable specimens possible and allowed them to be preserved in a durable and lifelike manner for instructional, research and demonstration purposes.
Plastination, a technology invented in 1977 by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, replaces bodily fluids and fat with reactive polymers such as silicone rubber, epoxy resins or polyester. The class of polymer used determines the mechanical (flexible or hard) and optical (transparent or opaque) properties of the preserved specimen. Plastinated specimens are dry and odorless; they retain their natural surface and are identical with their state prior to preservation down to the microscopic level.
The plastination process involves two exchange phases. In the first phase, an initial cold solvent bath gradually replaces bodily fluids with acetone through diffusion, and a second warm solvent bath replaces fats with acetone. In the second exchange phase, the acetone is replaced with reactive polymers. The dehydrated and defatted specimen is placed into a polymer solution and under a vacuum; the acetone is continuously extracted from the specimen. The evaporating solvent creates a volume deficit within the specimen, which gradually draws the polymer into the tissue. After this process, the specimen is cured with gas, light or heat, depending on the type of polymer used.
Sheet Plastination is a special variation of this preservation technique. In this method, whole bodies or body parts (mostly deep-frozen) are first cut into thin slices that are then placed between wire nettings, where they are dehydrated, defatted and finally saturated with polymers in a vacuum. The saturated slices are cured between sheets of film or cast with additional polymers in a flat chamber composed of glass plates to give them a smooth surface. The applied resin determines the optical properties of plastinated body slices. Body and organ slices produced with epoxy resins result in transparent specimens with good coloration of individual tissues; polyester resins permit an excellent distinction between white and gray brain matter and thus are used for the plastination of brain slices.
Plastinated organs and body slices are a helpful tool for teaching cross-sectional anatomy, which is gradually gaining importance and can be easily correlated with radiological imaging. Transparent body slices are not only helpful for many scientific research activities, but they are also suitable for pathological diagnostics, as they allow rapid macroscopic and diagnostic screening of entire organs or operation preparations.
Dr. Gunther von Hagens continues to evolve the process he invented at the Institute for Anatomy at the University of Heidelberg, and Plastination is now performed in many institutions worldwide. Plastination technology has obtained great acceptance, particularly because of the high quality of the preservation as well as the durability and the teaching value of the specimens.
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