Plastination is a technique of tissue preservation invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens in Heidelberg, Germany in 1978. In this process, water and lipids in biological tissues are replaced by polymers. The results are a dry, odorless and preserved specimen.
The process requires four main steps
- Fixation - Involves the specimen to be fixed in a 10% formaldehyde solution, this stablises the tissue and prevents autolysis. Specimens can also be dissected and blood vessels injected with a coloured medium to highlight desired structures.
- Dehydration - Biological specimens have a high water content which must be removed for plastination. This is achieved by a process known as Freeze Substitution where the specimens are placed into a cold -25°C solvent such as acetone. Then, over a period of 4-5 weeks the tissue water is slowly replaced by the acetone.
- Forced Impregnation - The dehydrated specimens are submerged into the liquid polymer and placed under vacuum, hense the term Forced Impregnation. The vacuum draws out the acetone from the specimen, leaving the polymer in its place.
- Hardening - Next, the polymer filled specimen is placed into a sealed chamber where it comes into contact with a curing gas. This gas hardens the polymer making the specimen dry to touch in about 48 hours. Curing is complete after several months.
Further Study
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