UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 12, Page 1                       
November 19, 1992                                      
Plastinated organs enhance human anatomy teaching      
                                                       
     Significant advancements in the teaching and study of anatomy
have been made, thanks to a new method of preserving human organs 
through plastination. Top honors in this process have gone to Robert
E. Neeves, co-director of the Sports Science Laboratory and associate
professor of physical education, athletics and recreation.   
     Neeves and his colleague, Ronald S. Wade, director of the
University of Maryland School of Medicine's Anatomical Facility and
State Anatomy Board, received the first-place award for the best
plastinated human organ specimens at the Sixth International 
Conference on Plastination in Kingston, Ontario, in July.    
     Plastination is a process by which biological tissues are
preserved in a life-like state by impregnating them with silicone.
     For the honor, Neeves and Wade competed with professionals from
medical, dental and veterinary schools in Europe, Asia, the Far East,
South America, Canada, Australia and the United States. The award was
especially gratifying, Neeves said, because he and Wade are relative
newcomers in the field.                                      
     Neeves' interest in plastination began during a visit to
Maryland's facility where he has had a working relationship for
several years. While there, he recalls that he saw a plastinated
cross-section of a human heart and immediately recognized that human
organs, preserved in such a life-like state, would provide excellent
tools for teaching human anatomy to students in physical education, as
well as the medical and paramedical fields.                  
     Most organs used in anatomy classes have been preserved in
formalin, Neeves explained, which turns them a brown color and
requires the use of rubber gloves for handling. As any biology student
knows, formalin releases formaldehyde, a gas with an unpleasant odor
which also can irritate eyes.                                
     Plastinated organs, on the other hand, are life-like, odorless,
dry, lightweight, can be easily handled, do not disintegrate and
require no special storage facilities. Technically, they should last
several decades.                                             
     Neeves spent part of a sabbatical leave at Heidelburg University
learning the process of plastination, which was developed by Gunther
von Hagen, a German physician. The remainder of his sabbatical was
spent perfecting the process at Maryland's Anatomical Facility.
     Neeves uses the plastination process on donated organs, first
injecting red and blue dyes into the arteries and veins. The organs
are fixed in 10 percent formalin for four to seven days, then
dehydrated in minus 25 degree Celsius acetone over a period of 28 
days.                                                        
     Next, the specimens are placed into minus 25 degree Celsius
liquid silicone and subjected to a vacuum process to remove the
acetone from the specimens' tissues, which allows the silicone to fill
all the cells.                                               
     A special gas curing process is then used to solidify the
silicone which converts the organ into a rubberized teaching specimen.
     The organs thus retain their shapes, cellular structures and
surface features, Neeves said.                               
     Students can see the pathological problems in diseased organs and
compare them with healthy organs, Neeves said.               
     His plastinated heart specimens include an enlarged heart, one
showing a scarred area where an infarction has occurred, one with 
coronary artery bypass grafts, a heart with a pacemaker, and others
with synthetic valves and color-injected arteries and veins. 
     In addition to his award for plastinated human organs, Neeves was
on the University of Delaware team that developed the videodisc,
Dynamics of Human Anatomy, which received a Gold Medal at the 1991 New
York Film Festival international competition in the Interactive Video:
Health/Medical Information category.                         
     The team was headed by David Barlow, director of the Physical
Education Program, and included Keith A. Handling, associate professor
of physical education, and Kathleen Troutman, senior software
development analyst in the Instructional Technology Center.  
     Offering an extensive tutorial on human anatomy, the program is 
currently being marketed to schools in the medical and health fields.
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure