A New Polyester Technique for Sheet Plastination

Abstract

A cape dolphin cadaver was used to evaluate a new polyester sheet plastination technique in this experiment. The dolphin was divided into two regions, the head and the body. After freezing the tissue at - 70℃, the head was cut into forty-three 3.0mm thick sagittal slices with a high-speed band saw. The body of the dolphin was cut into 348 transverse slices of the same thickness. All slices were fixed using 10％ formaldehyde and bleached using 5％ dioxogen. The slices were dehydrated in a cold acetone bath and degreased in room temperature acetone. The slices were impregnated with Hoffen Polyester (P45, China) and cast between two glass plates. Then tissue slices were cured in heated water bath instead of UV-light. The finished polyester slices were cured properly and exhibited detailed anatomical information.