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.
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.
Paraffin impregnation was introduced in 1925 and the embedding of organs in plastic was developed in the 1960s.
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.
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. The Silicone S 10 is the procedure most often used in plastination and creates opaque, natural-looking specimen. 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. 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". Samples are prepared for fixation through the first method by deep freezing, while the second method works best following 4–6 weeks of preparation in a formaldehyde mixture.
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