Welcome to the Menschen Museum – the Body Worlds’ Human Museum, an exhibition that goes under your skin.
Only the plastination process offers such a detailed insight into the human body – as you will soon see.
You will be surprised to discover how beautiful we all are inside, and marvel at the complexity of our bodies and how amazingly they function. You will sense just how vulnerable we are. And we will show you what moves us, and makes us laugh, love and cry.
All the prepared bodies in this exhibition are real. They come from donors who decided during their lifetimes to leave their bodies to be specially prepared using the plastination process.
The authenticity of the plastinates shown here is a vital part of understanding how our bodies are structured – and they show how each body is unique, not only in how we look outside, but also inside. We are all different, and yet all the same.
These plastinates also have the power to touch us emotionally and encourage us to think about ourselves – something no model or computer animation can do.

The human skeleton resembles an inner scaffolding, supporting our body and giving us shape. Without this framework we would – literally – just be a formless blob.
The entire human skeleton weighs between seven and ten kilos, yet can cope with the same stress loads as reinforced concrete.
As a rule, an adult skeleton has 206 bones, and one hundred joints to connect the bones. Sometimes, though, a person may be born with a rib or vertebra more – or less ‑ than usual. Incidentally, babies have many more bones – around 300. In the years after birth, many of these bones then fuse together – and you can find out why at the display cases.
The bones all have a different shape, depending on their specific functions.
The round skull protects the brain. The spine comprises individual vertebrae, which allows us to bend and twist as we like.
The ribs, which are attached to the spine, form a kind of cage covering our sensitive internal organs. The shoulder-blades and the collar bones – known as the shoulder girdle – connects the arms to our upper torso. In a similar way, the pelvis links the legs with the trunk of the body.
The long bones in our arms and legs work like levers to transform the work of our muscles into movement.

The femur – the thighbone – is the largest bone in our body.
The bone may look solid from outside, but appearances can be deceptive.
In fact, only the outer zone is hard compact bone; the inner section looks surprisingly fragile. This is comprised of a honeycomb structure called spongy bone, which is made up of tiny bundles of membrane. These bundles of membrane form along the lines of stress in the bone in a latticework structure that makes the bones light yet exceptionally strong.
In our display, next to the thighbone we are showing the body’s smallest bones.
These are so small because they have to fit inside our ears – or more precisely, inside the inner ear, directly behind the eardrum. They are called the stirrup, hammer and anvil – and they actually do look a little bit like the objects they are named after. These tiny bones transfer sound from the eardrum through the inner ear to the cochlea.
The cochlea is coiled rather like a snail-shell and filled with a liquid – and you can see a part of it in the dissected skull. The sound vibrations are passed into this liquid, which then starts to move. The inside of the cochlea is covered with a mass of tiny hairs connected to the auditory nerve. The movement of the hairs is a bit like seaweed in the sea, and as the hairs drift they send electric impulses down the auditory nerve into the brain.
Our balance system is also located in our inner ear. Have you noticed the little loops next to the cochlea? These are semi-circular canals which also have a mass of tiny hairs and are filled with a gelatinous liquid. Moving our heads makes the liquid move, and the hairs transfer that movement into electrical impulses sent to the brain – so we know whether we are moving up or down, or bending to the right or left.

Have you ever wondered why children grow so fast?
It’s because their bones are not yet fully ossified – in other words, they have not yet hardened completely. Our bones grow from soft cartilage or connective tissue. While the embryo is developing in the womb, the soft cartilage is only partially transformed into solid bone.
You can see on the cross-section of a knee of a newborn how the shafts of the bones have already ossified; but the ends are still soft, cartilaginous tissue. Later, in children and adolescents, the bones are largely ossified – in other words, turned to bone. But the bones of teenagers still have a thin pad of cartilage, the growth plate, to allow further slow growth. The growth plates only become ossified when we are around 18 years old, and we stop growing.
And why does an infant have more bones than an adult?
You may be able to guess why from the structure of the newborn’s skull.
It consists of a series of individual bone plates with large gaps between them filled with connecting tissue. These soft spots are known as fontanels.
This structure has two functions. On the one hand, it makes the process of birth far easier. The plates of the skull slide over each other when the baby enters the narrow birth canal. On the other hand, the plates also give the flexibility needed when the brain grows after birth. Only when the brain has reached its full size do the connective tissue bridges turn into solid bone.
We also have some other bones in our bodies that are initially individual bones, rather like the skull, but are later fused.

Our skull is made up of two separate sets of bones.
The eight bones enclosing and protecting the brain are called the cranial vault. Another 14 bones make up the facial skeleton, forming the eye, mouth and nasal cavities and determining the way we look. In adults, all of the skull bones have fused together, with the exception, of course, of the lower jaw – since otherwise we would be unable to speak or eat!
In this specimen, the seams of these joints, known as sutures, have been separated to show the single bones more clearly.

Even at first glance, you can tell this skeleton is badly deformed.
When you look at it from the side especially, you’ll notice the strong curvature of the spine.
Normally, the vertebrae are connected but separate. Here, though, the individual vertebrae have grown together so the spine becomes rigid. This is the result of an inflammatory disease condition known as ankylosing spondylitis or Bechterew’s disease. In severe cases, someone might no longer be able to turn their head, for example, but has to turn their entire body to look at something on one side or behind them.
This chronic and extremely painful disease mainly affects young people between the ages of 15 and 30. Men suffer from it more often than women, and may have more severe symptoms.
The disease is triggered by an immune deficiency disorder, which then leads to a chronic inflammation in the spine.

The two longitudinal sections of a knee illustrate the progressive bone disease known as osteoporosis.
The left knee has a dense honeycomb structure with a network of trabeculae struts – which look like shading lines. As a result, the bone is light and strong. On the right section, there are considerable fewer of these little struts. Moreover, since the exterior zone of the bone is also smaller, it cannot cope with as much strain and wear, and may fracture more easily. This reduction in bone mass, which is known as osteoporosis, is due to changes in the process of bone tissue renewal.
Healthy bones are constantly breaking down and renewing old bone tissue – and to do that, they need a regular supply of protein, calcium and vitamins. Moreover, the bones need to be used regularly. Finally, our bodies need the hormones which regulate and harmonise the renewal of old bone tissue – and here in particular, women during menopause may be affected due to their hormonal changes.
Prolonged inactivity can also result in osteoporosis – for example, bone mass reduces when people are bedridden and unable to use their bones.

Our bodies are flexible thanks to our body joints. The body joints come in variety of types, but they all connect two or more bones.
The ball and socket joint allows the greatest possible movement in all directions.
In the shoulder joint, for instance, the relatively large head of the upper arm bone fits into a small, rather flat socket in the shoulder blade. This facilitates movement in six different directions – forwards and backwards, to the right and left and rotating clockwise and anti-clockwise.
The elbow joint consists of three bones. The way these bones meet creates a combination of three types of joint, all enclosed in a fibrous joint capsule.
The first part of the joint is formed where the upper arm bone meets the ulna, one of the bones in the lower arm. This type of joint is known as a hinge joint. This allows the lower arm to bend and stretch – so the movement is backwards and forwards. The second joint is where the upper arm bone meets the radius – the other bone in the lower arm. Finally, the third joint is between the radius and the ulna, allowing us to twist the hand over, palm up.
Our hands are really multitalented – and they comprise 27 bones and 15 joints. We can move them in all directions, and are just as able to life a heavy weight or pick up a needle from the floor. And when we pick up something, for example, we use the hinge joints in the fingers and the saddle joint in the thumb.
Our feet and toes have to bear the weight of the body and help us keep our balance. Here, the ankle joints are especially important. Ankle joints are hinge joints. The upper joint raises and lowers the back of the foot. The lower joint tilts the foot either inwards or outwards – for example, to compensate when we are walking on uneven ground.

The knee joint connects the thighbone and the shin bones. In the healthy knee joint, the cartilage on the surfaces of the joint which helps to minimise friction is smooth and even. In contrast, the other knee joint shows signs of severe degenerative arthritis. The cartilage is worn. It also has clear signs of friction. At one or two places, even parts of the bones show signs of wear – so this knee was suffering from arthritis for quite some time. The bone has reacted by thickening and creating bone outgrowths or “spurs”. This person obviously suffered considerable pain.
As we grow older, the cartilage in our joints may wear, lose its elasticity and become brittle. The knee and hip joints they tend to suffer most as they have to bear our entire body weight.
In cases of severe arthritis, a worn joint can be replaced – as is the case here with the hip joint. The hip replacement copies the round shape and angle of the bone fitting into the hip. The head of the hip replacement consists of highly-polished steel, and the steel shaft attached to it is then cemented onto the femur – the upper thigh bone.

Our spinal column is a very sophisticated structure. It holds our body upright, yet allows us to stretch, bend and twist.
The adult spine is comprised of 24 moveable bones, called vertebrae, together with the fused bones of the sacral bone and the coccyx at the base of the spine.
Small disks made of gel-filled cartilage are set between each vertebra. These intervertebral discs, as they are called, separate the vertebrae to stop them rubbing against one another, and also cushion them. They are your spine’s natural shock absorbers as well – for example, minimising the impact in the spine when we jump up and land. So these little discs have an important job to do. But we only notice just how important when they cause problems – for example, if we have a slipped disk. In a slipped disk, the soft gelatinous-like core of the disk slips out of the harder cartilage enclosing it. Then, if it presses on a nerve, it can be very painful.
Normally, when viewed from the back, the spine is straight. If the spinal column curves strongly to the sideways, this condition is called scoliosis. Scoliosis may lead to one shoulder being lower than the other, for instance, or one shoulder blade pushed out more to one side.
This is an extreme case of scoliosis – and here, the chest cavity is so severely deformed that the lungs cannot expand freely, which also leads to breathing problems.

To move, we not only need bones and joints, but also – of course – our muscles. We have over 600 muscles – and need 20 just to smile!
A muscle consists of a mass of individual fibres that can contract to become shorter – and when a muscle contracts, the bone attached to the muscle also moves.
But rather than muscles working alone, they work together with other muscles as a team.
The members of the team – the synergists – all pull in the same direction. But the fibres of muscles can only contract; to expand again, they need help – and so we also have muscles known as antagonists, which pull in the opposite direction.
To raise and lower your lower arm, for example, the synergists raise the arm and the antagonists lower the arm.
The biceps, the large muscle on your upper arm, contracts and your lower arm bends upwards at the elbow. To lower your arm, you use the antagonist – the triceps, the muscle on the back of your upper arm. When the triceps contracts, your lower arm stretches back out again.
Synergists and antagonists are arranged together to act in perfect harmony.
When one group of muscles contracts, the other prevents sudden, excessive movement. So through their combined efforts, we can make flowing, modulated movements.

Our muscles constantly require energy to move – and our digestive systems extract that energy from food. Put simply, the digestive system resembles a long tube – running approximately seven meters from the mouth to the rectum.
Digestion begins with chewing food into small pieces in the mouth. Afterwards, we swallow it down the esophagus into the stomach – a movement, incidentally, that also works even when we are standing on our heads! In the stomach, the food is mixed with gastric juices, and then this mix passes into the duodenum, the upper part of the small intestine, where digestive juices from the liver and pancreas are added.
The food mix then carries on into the main centre of digestion – the twists and turns of the small intestine. There, the mix is broken down into its constituent molecules. The nutrient molecules are absorbed through the wall of the intestines into the bloodstream and transported on, first to the liver and then to the many, many cells in our bodies.
What cannot be digested is moved on into the large intestine, where the water is extracted from it. The remaining solid waste is then excreted out of the body.
The entire process of digestion takes around twenty-four hours.

Surprisingly perhaps, the size and shape of the stomach and even its position in the body can be slightly different in all of us, depending on our age and eating habits.
A stomach can hold up to around 2 to 3 liters of food.
The stomach is lined with a wrinkly mucous membrane. The membrane’s glands produce around two litres of gastric juices every day. The digestive juices, which are primarily a mix of hydrochloric acid and enzymes, create an acidic environment.
To prevent the gastric juices attacking the stomach lining and damaging it, the stomach glands also produce a slime-like mucous which covers the lining.
When the food mix passes into the small intestine, new gastric juices are added – for example, enzymes from the pancreas to break down proteins and carbohydrate.
In a process called emulsification, bile from the liver aids the digestion of fats by breaking them down into small droplets which can disperse in water.
To extract the nutrients, the body has to break down the food mix into its constituent molecules, so the molecules can be absorbed through the intestinal wall into the blood stream.
But since we need a large amount of nutrient molecules, the area for absorbing them also has to be as large as possible. So the membrane in the small intestine has folds covered with tiny little finger-like tissues called villi – and this dramatically expands the surface area able to absorb nutrients. Incredibly, the surface area of our intestines are roughly the size of a tennis court.

Not all nutrients are absorbed through the wall of the small intestine into the bloodstream. Whatever the body is unable to process passes into the large intestine. There, the water is absorbed from the remaining waste material to thicken it.
The mucous membrane lining the large intestine is home to a multitude of bacteria which aid the process of digestion, produce vitamins and support our immune system. Each gram of faeces contains more bacteria than there are people on earth – so, in that sense, we are not so much individuals as sheltered housing for microbes.
The first part of the large intestine is sometime referred to as the blind intestine – it is rather like a blind alley with only one way out. The appendix hangs down from this part of the large intestine. If the appendix becomes infected, it needs to be removed surgically.
The liver, which you can see at the end of the display case, is a kind of main treatment plant in our bodies. It has a number of functions but is, first and foremost, a crucial organ in regulating our metabolism.
When the nutrient molecules are absorbed by the bloodstream during digestion, they first pass through the liver and are processed there. For example, the liver converts glucose, the sugar present in the blood, into glycogen and retains it as a carbohydrate store. The liver also filters harmful substances out of the blood. For example, to an extent – but only to an extent – the liver can covert alcohol into harmless waste products.

The liver is a detoxification centre for alcohol – but this doesn’t mean we can drink as much as we like without damaging our health!
If the liver has to process excessive amounts of alcohol, the normal liver function may be impaired. As a result, it no longer processes and passes on fats as effectively. Instead, it starts to store fat itself, becomes fatty, and grows in size.
But if we adopt a healthier lifestyle and reduce or cut our alcohol consumption entirely, a fatty liver can slowly recover.
However, if a person continues drinking to excess, the damage to the liver will be permanent. Liver cells will then die in increasing numbers. Since the liver cannot regenerate its cells, it only replaces them with scar tissue. The entire liver then becomes permeated by a network of scars and starts to shrink.
The irreversible scarring of the liver is known as cirrhosis of the liver – a serious condition which is a frequent cause of death for alcoholics.

The chest and abdominal organs are especially clear in this plastinate. These organs are closely packed into our bodies, and only separated by a thin layer of serous fluid. The thoracic or chest cavity contains the lung and the heart. The stomach is then below, with the liver to the left. Here, the liver is slightly enlarged and is permeated by metastases – secondary tumours from a main tumour which developed in another part of the body.
The large intestine is under the liver and stomach. It surrounds the small intestine rather like a frame and leads ultimately to the left-hand side of the body and into the colon. While we are digesting food, the digestive organs are constantly moving, transporting the digestive mix through the system with rhythmic, wave-like movements. This movement in the walls of the digestive tract is called peristalsis. Although peristaltic movements cannot be controlled consciously, they can be stimulated by eating or by the smell of food – or, if everything comes to a standstill, by laxatives.

Here, you have – as it were – the inside take on obesity.
First of all, a large amount of fat has accumulated directly under the skin. But even the inner organs in the abdominal cavity are literally wrapped in fat.
This man was obese – his stomach even covers his penis.
In Germany, around 40 percent of the population are considered to be overweight. Putting on weight is not only due to factors such as lack of exercise and too much food, but also, for example, to high stress levels.
To an extent, we need some body fat.
Body fat is a means of storing energy, protects us against the cold or cushions parts of the body, such as the soles of feet. But too much body fat is a serious health risk, and can lead to such illnesses as diabetes and high blood pressure. The biggest risk, though, comes from fat stored inside the abdominal cavity – and here, men are most at risk since this is where their bodies naturally tend to store most fat. In contrast, women tend to put on weight around the hips.

Our bodies do not only produce useful and beneficial substances, but also waste and even toxins. To remove the harmful substances, our bodies have something like a filter system. That’s the system you can see here – our urinary tract.
The kidneys filter the waste out of the blood stream, and then turn the waste into a substance called urine. The urine passes down two tubes, the ureters, to the bladder, where it is collected. A full bladder triggers to urge to void it, and we then excrete the urine through the urethra.
The female urethra comes out of the body just in front of the vagina, and is only around 4 cm or 1.5 inches long.
The male urethra is about 20 cm, or 8 inches long, and first passes through the prostate gland, directly under the bladder, and then the penis.

We have approximately five litres of blood constantly circulating in our bodies – and constantly passing through our kidneys, where it is filtered.
The filter system is in the outer part of the kidney, the renal cortex – clearly visible on the dissected kidney as the part with a bright red edge. The urine is concentrated inside the kidney, in the medulla, and then passed through the renal pelvis to the ureter and into the bladder.
But aside from filtering the blood, the kidneys also have other tasks. They regulate the proper balance of fluids and minerals in the body. They also regulate our blood pressure by excreting more or less water. If the kidneys only excrete a little water, the fluid remains in the bloodstream and may cause a rise in blood pressure. In the reverse case, if the kidneys excrete more water, this may lead to a drop in blood pressure.
Like all organs in our bodies, the kidneys can also become ill. Here, you can see various kidney diseases.
A shrunken kidney usually results from a chronic kidney infection that gradually destroys the kidney tissue. A cyst, though, is quite common – and one in ten people have a kidney cyst. Just one of these fluid-filled cavities is unlikely to cause any serious complaints.
The specimen at the end of the display case, though, is a very different case. This kidney has a congenital deformation. It has a mass of ducts leading into the tissue, but these are unconnected. As a result, the urine collects in sacs in the kidney tissue, creating an unusually large number of cysts and that, ultimately, leads to kidney failure.

The main parts of the male reproductive organs are visible outside the body – the penis and the two testicles in the testicular bag, or scrotum. The prostate gland and the seminal vesicles are inside the body.
The testicles are outside the body for a very good reason. Around 300 million sperm mature every day inside the two testes, but to mature they need a slightly lower temperature. The normal body temperature of around 37 degrees Celsius – 98.6 Fahrenheit – would simply be too warm.
Sperm are stored in what looks like a hood enveloping each testicle – a part of the body called the epididymis. During orgasm, the sperm travel down the seminal vesicles from the epididymides into the urethra. There, they are mixed with fluid from the prostate gland, helping to produce a medium in which the sperm cells can move more freely. The sperm is ejaculated by means of rhythmic contractions of the urethral muscles. The installation on the wall contains approximately the same number of grains of rice as in the ejaculate.
Here, we are showing a healthy prostate as well as a prostate that is abnormally enlarged. The prostate lies directly beneath the bladder, rather like a ring surrounding the urethra. A healthy prostate is roughly the size of a chestnut. As men grow older, the prostate often tends to enlarge. Since the urethra runs through the prostate, an enlarged prostate gland can often hamper the release of urine from the bladder.

The female reproductive organs are largely inside the body – the two ovaries with their Fallopian tubes, the uterus, and the vagina. The egg cells are already present in the ovaries at birth. There, they remain in a kind of dormant stage. From puberty, one egg ripens in a regular cycle of about four weeks and passes through the Fallopian tubes to the uterus. An egg can also be fertilized on its way down the Fallopian tubes if it comes into contact with a sperm cell. The fertilised egg attaches itself to the wall of the uterus and has one goal – dividing again and again .. and again. Gradually, the baby develops in the womb. If an egg is not fertilized, it is then passed out of the body with the uterine lining, which is renewed during the next menstrual cycle.
Occasionally, small, benign tumours may develop on the uterine wall. In contrast to malignant tumours, these myomas or fibroids, as they are known, are not dangerous, since they do not destroy the tissue. If the fibroids remain small, they rarely cause any discomfort.
The female breast has a major part to play in reproduction. Once the baby is born, the breasts start to produce milk – the ideal nutrition for newborn babies. In contrast to cow’s milk, for example, breast milk contains more sugar and fat, and protects the baby from illnesses. To enable the breast to produce milk, milk glands and a fine network of glandular ducts are distributed throughout its fatty tissue.
Here, we are also showing a breast which is almost completely permeated by hard cancerous tissue. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women.

Our bodies are made of billions of different cells, but every one of us began from just one cell – created when the sperm from the father enters the egg from the mother. This single cell contains the entire blueprint for an individual – size, hair and eye colour, and characteristic features.
Around 30 hours after fertilization, the cell stats to change. On its way to the uterus, the cell begins to divide, time and again, before the group of cells attaches to the uterine wall on the sixth day. From this point, the cycle of pregnancy lasts around 260 days, and the tiny organism is called an embryo.
The cells continue to divide and divide, and soon they start to specialise in producing the different areas of the body. After four weeks, the embryo has a heart, a pre-form of eyes and four bud-like growths that will later become the limbs. At this early stage, the embryo is around four millimetres long. By the end of the eight week, it will have grown to be one and half centimetres long – just over half an inch.
The key organs are all present, generally in a pre-form, and the embryo already looks like a tiny baby.

Once the third month of pregnancy begins, the embryo starts a new phase. All the key organs are present, and from now on the baby grows and develops – and is now referred to as a fetus, and no longer an embryo.
In week 13, the foetus can lift its head, the legs are already well developed and the toenails are starting to grow.
In week 15, the foetus is around 15 centimetres long – just over 5 inches – and weights around 200 grams. The external sexual organs have developed and depending on the position of the foetus, it may be possible to identify the gender in an ultrasound image.
By the 17th week, female foetuses have developed the uterus. Women who have already had children usually start noticing the fetus’ movement. First-time mothers often notice the movement around two weeks later.
By the 22nd to the 24th week, the proportions of the foetus’ body are changing. Now, the foetus is around 28 centimetres long – slightly over 11 inches – and weighs approximately 450 grams. The fingernails are starting to grow. The air sacs are developing in the lungs, but are not yet coordinated with the nervous system.
In week 28, the foetus can open and close its eyes, and the lungs are now functional. After around 28 weeks, or seven months, the fetus is far enough developed to survive even if it is born prematurely.
During the final two months, the main changes are in size and weight. When it is born, the baby will be around 50 cm – roughly 20 inches ‑ and weigh between 3-4 kilos – about 6-8 pounds.

The placenta is a pancake-shaped mass of blood vessels and tissue.
However, the placenta is not produced by the mother’s womb but is mainly tissue produced by the fertilized egg. It develops right at the start of the pregnancy directly where the fertilized egg embeds itself into the uterine wall.
The fetus is connected to the placenta by the umbilical cord. The fetus’ heart pumps its blood through the umbilical cord into the placenta. There, small blood vessels carry the foetal blood through the placenta, which is full of maternal blood. As the blood passes through, nutrients and oxygen from the mother’s blood are absorbed by the fetal blood and exchanged for waste products. During this process, the blood of the mother and fetus do not actually mix or come into direct contact.
Incidentally, identical twins often share one single placenta which provides the nutrients for them both, although they can also each have an individual placenta. In contrast, non-identical twins always have two separate placentas.
In any case, shortly after the baby is born, the umbilical cord is severed and the placenta is shed as part of the afterbirth.

The heart is the engine driving our cardio-vascular system. It constantly pumps blood around a very dense network of blood vessels running through our entire bodies, ensuring that muscles and organs are provided with oxygen and nutrients. When we are resting, the heart beats about 70 times a minute.But when we start being active, our muscles want more oxygen and energy – and that means the heart has to pump faster. With each beat, the heart pumps around one expresso cup of blood – which roughly adds up to an amazing 5 litres a minute!
The plastinate opened longitudinally shows the left and right halves of the heart separated by cardiac muscle. Both sides have an atrium and a ventricle – the blood always arrives in the atrium and is pumped out by the ventricle. The left atrium fills with oxygenated blood from the lungs. The blood flows into the left ventricle and is then pumped into the body’s arteries. The veins bring the deoxygenated blood back to the heart, first to the right atrium, and then into the right ventricle where it is pumped to the lungs to collect oxygen again.
Four heart valves ensure that the blood is always pumped in the right direction, and cannot flow backwards. If you look at the heart from the top, you can see the valves quite clearly. Two valves are inside the heart, separating the two atriums from the ventricles; the other two form the exits between the ventricles and the blood vessels.
If a heart valve no longer opens or closes properly, it can cause serious cardiac disorders. Heart valves can become affected by illness, usually through a bacterial infection. Afterwards, the valve may be scarred or deformed and unable to function properly. In such cases, an artificial valve can be used as a replacement.

The heart is a hollow muscle pumping blood through our bodies, and it has its own set of blood vessels – the coronary arteries– to supply it with blood carrying oxygen and nutrients.
From the aorta, the principal artery in the body, smaller arteries branch off to create a network of blood vessels taking the oxygenated blood and nutrients to the heart muscle.
As we grow older, deposits can build up on the walls of the coronary vessels, narrowing the blood vessels and slowing the flow of blood. When the plaque deposit suddenly breaks off, a blood clot can form, blocking the blood vessel and interrupting the flow of blood to the heart – and that causes a heart attack. If the flow of blood is not restarted quickly, the heart tissue starts to die after just a few hours. Since this can serious impair the ability of the entire heart muscle to function, a heart attack can be fatal if help does not arrive promptly.
The heart on show here survived the heart attack. In that case, the muscle cells that died off were gradually replaced by white scar tissue. The wall of the heart muscle here is clearly much thinner.
A heart attack is the most common cause of death in those who seem totally healthy. The most significant factors increasing the risk of a heart attack are smoking, obesity, high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels.

The aorta is the main artery of our bodies. It starts from the left chamber of the heart and transports oxygenated blood to the body.
The first, smooth specimen here shows the inside of a healthy aorta; the aortas in the middle are suffering from varying degrees of arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.
As we grow older, proteins and fatty substances in the blood can be deposited on the walls of the blood vessels. As this plaque builds up, the vessel walls become thicker and harder, and eventually clogged. The areas affected can tear, and small ulcers form on the walls of the blood vessel. At these points, blood clots can build up, narrowing the blood vessels even further and disturbing the regular flow of blood around the body. The damage to the vessels sometimes causes them to bulge or balloon outwards, creating what are called aneurysms. The walls of the aneurysm are usually very thin and can easily rupture, causing severe blood loss which, in the worst case, may be fatal. You can see an extremely enlarged aorta here too. It is unusual for the artery to expand as much, and fortunately such massive ballooning is very rare.

This is a spleen. For many people, the spleen is something of a mystery, as they really aren’t sure what it does.
The spleen is rather hidden on the left side of the upper abdomen directly under the diaphragm. It has two tasks: firstly, to break down old blood cells and, secondly, to produce antibodies and lymphocytes – the cells needed to fight infection.
A healthy spleen weighs around 100 grams or about 3.5 ounces. The spleen may become considerably enlarged if the body is fighting an infection. However, it can also become enlarged as a result of other illnesses, such as cirrhosis of the liver or – as in the case of this specimen – leukaemia. In extreme cases, the spleen can swell up to weigh around ten kilos.
Yet although the spleen has two crucial tasks, the body can survive without it. If the spleen is injured in an accident and has to be surgically removed, other organs gradually start to take over its tasks. Old blood cells will then be broken down in the liver, while lymphocyte production is simply increased in the other organs responsible for it – primarily the bone marrow and lymph nodes.

Here you can see the arteries of the arm and hand.
Incidentally, this plastinate does not show the very finest capillary vessels. This network of vessels is really much denser – and then that’s just the arteries. So you can imagine just how our tightly packed our bodies are under the skin.
Such fine structures could never be prepared using such standard methods as a dissecting scissors and forceps. To create this specimen, we needed a rather different approach. To begin with, very liquid coloured plastic solution was injected into the arteries. When this had hardened and taken the form of the arteries, an enzyme mix was used to remove the soft tissue surrounding the vessels.
So strictly speaking, what you can see here are not the blood vessels themselves but their shape in plastic.

This specimen has been prepared using a special technique to make the arterial system visible.
The body has a very dense network of blood vessels running through the entire body. They repeatedly divide, over and over again, into ever-thinner supply channels on their way to the organs and tissues in the body. Since here we only have the main arteries, you can imagine how dense the entire network of blood vessels is. The very narrowest blood vessels in the body are called capillaries. The capillaries are so tiny, they are hardly wider than a red blood cell. The walls of the capillaries only consist of one layer of tissue cells ‑ but this, of course, is ideal as a thin barrier allowing the exchange of vital nutrients, oxygen and hormones for waste products like carbon dioxide.
The blood flows back to the heart via the veins. They emerge from the capillary bed and join into ever-larger vessels. The largest of these, the vena cava, transports the blood back to the heart.
By the way, what you can see here are not the blood vessels themselves, but their form in plastic. It would be impossible to show this fine network of blood vessels with the standard techniques used in preparing anatomical specimens. The blood vessel network is far too fine and dense to be uncovered by dissecting with a scalpel and forceps. For this reason, these specimens were prepared in a completely different way. First, a thin, liquid plastic solution was injected into their arteries. Once this had hardened and taken the form of the blood vessels, the soft tissue around the vessels was removed with the help of special enzymes. In other words, what you can see here are not the arteries themselves, but their inner profiles in plastic.

We breathe in and out around 20,000 times a day – and most of the time, we don’t even notice!
Our brain automatically regulates our breathing. Every minute, around five litres of air flow through our noses, throats, and windpipe to our lungs. The windpipe divides into two main bronchial tubes leading to the two lungs. The bronchi then divide, rather like the branches of a tree. The smallest bronchioles open into tiny air sacs surrounded by a network of blood vessels – and this is where the transfer of gases takes place. The inhaled oxygen is taken into the blood, and carbon dioxide passes out of the blood into the air which we then exhale.
The act of breathing in and out is also central to speech and singing – and the key organ here is the larynx. The larynx is at the back of the throat just where the windpipe starts. At the top of the larynx, there is the epiglottis, which is rather like a flap. The epiglottis shuts when we swallow so food and liquids are directed into the esophagus, leading to the stomach.
The vocal chords are in the middle of the larynx. When we want to make a sound, a set of delicate muscles tightens our vocal chords, and they start vibrating as the air passes over them on the way out of the lungs. The sound waves pass into the oral cavity, where they are shaped into words by the tongue and lips.

When we inhale we have the sensation of drawing air directly into the lungs and filling them. In fact, though, we do not actively expand our lungs in the way we imagine. Instead, when we breathe in, the chest cavity enlarges because it is pulled open by the muscles around it.
Here, you can see the most important respiratory muscle – the thin dome-shaped muscle called the diaphragm. This forms a partition between the thoracic and abdominal cavities. When the diaphragm muscles contract, the dome shape flattens, moving itself and the lungs downwards. The result is a negative pressure, so the air flows in through the mouth and nose. When we breathe out, the muscles relax, the chest cavity becomes smaller again, and the air is pressed out of the lungs.

A mass of fine nerve fibre runs through our bodies, from head to toe. Together with the brain and spinal cord, they comprise our nervous systems.
The brain is the control centre, and the nerves are the cables for the messages. Bundles of nerve fibres emerge from the brain and spinal column, which then branch off into fine networks of nerve fibre running through our bodies. Here, we are only showing the main nerves.
The sciatic nerve is the thickest nerve in our bodies. The sciatic nerve branches off on either side at the bottom of the spinal column, and run downs the back of our legs.
The smallest elements of the nervous system are the nerve cells – which of course are invisible to the naked eye. The nerve cells gather and process information.
And when we say “information”, we mean, for example, sensations or sensory impressions – such as the words I’m speaking now, and you are hearing.
The sound waves entering your ears are transformed into electrical impulses, and sent down nerve fibres to your brain. But there’s more happening than just your sensory impression that I just said “sensory impression”. At the same time, for example, your brain is sending information to your muscles fibres in your legs, so that you keep your balance and don’t fall over.

The brain primarily consists of nerve tissue; it lies well protected in the skull.
The brain from above, with all its many folds and grooves, is reminiscent of a walnut. The outer layer of neural tissues is called the cerebral cortex. The grooves and folds in cerebral cortex developed over millions of years. As our brains gradually grew during evolution, they had to fold to fit into the skull around them. Nearly two thirds of the surface lies in the folds. If a cerebral cortex were laid out flat, it would cover an entire table.
The cortex is the seat of our consciousness and higher mental functions. A major fold divides the cortex into a left and right hemisphere. These are linked to each other at the base by what is known as the corpus callosum.
Underneath, at the base of the brain, you can find the cerebellum and the brain stem leading into the spinal cord. These are the older parts of the brain and regulate many basic biological functions. For example, the brain stem regulates respiration, circulation and digestion, while the cerebellum is responsible for controlling balance and coordinating physical movements.

The brain needs a lot of energy to perform its many different tasks. This energy is provided through nutrients and oxygen transported in the blood to where they are needed. So that’s why we are showing this plastinate of the arteries, or more precisely, the network of arteries to the brain.
As you can see, our brains are very well supplied with blood. Although only accounting for two percent of our total body weight, our brains needs 20 percent of our blood supply. And the brain is more sensitive to oxygen deficiency than any other organ in the body. If the supply of blood is interrupted for just ten seconds, we lose consciousness. After three minutes without oxygen, the brain tissue can be severely damaged – and after five minutes, we die.
You may already have noticed the black areas on the brain slices here. These are areas where blood has seeped into the brain from a stroke. The medical term for this is a cerebrovascular accident. But since this can occur so suddenly, often in a person feeling fit and well, it is commonly called a stroke.
The majority of strokes are caused by a blocked cerebral artery, either due to a blood clot or plaque build-up on the artery walls. After a stroke, people may have, for example, a speech impairment or speech loss or are unable to move an arm or a leg.
The risk of a stroke increases as we grow older. But age is only one risk factor – others include constant high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, being overweight and high cholesterol levels.

This is the brain of someone who suffered from Alzheimer’s. Next to it, as a comparison, we are showing a healthy brain.
In Alzheimer’s, abnormal clusters of certain types of protein form clumps in the brain. These fragments or clumps, known as plaques, disrupt the nerve cell metabolism. Not only are the cells cut off from each other, but their supply of nutrients is disturbed and they die off. In the course of time, the grooves or furrows in the brain steadily widen and the brain shrinks.
The onset of Alzheimer’s is almost imperceptible. To begin with, it’s hard to remember the names of friends, or find your keys. But although these are things we are all familiar with, for a person with Alzheimer’s, they have a different quality – and ultimately, an Alzheimer sufferer may go out and can’t remember the way home.
Memories are lost entirely – and, as the illness becomes more severe, the sufferers many not even recognise their family members any more. Usually, the symptoms start after the age of 65. In some cases, though, people may develop Alzheimer’s as early as 50. A good million people in Germany suffer from this form of dementia. Drug treatments can alleviate the symptoms, but there is as yet no cure for Alzheimer’s.

No doubt you’ve heard the phrase “using those little grey cells” to describe the process of thinking. The slices here clearly show the grey and white matter in the brain. The grey areas are comprised of nerve cells and the white parts are the nerve fibres – the connections between the nerve cells.
Incidentally, the phrase “grey matter” for the brain goes back to the former use of formaldehyde to preserve early specimen. Since formaldehyde, an organic compound, really did turn the brain’s nerve cells grey.
In living tissue and in plastinates, the nerve cells are more a light pink – so really we should say we have to use our “little pink cells”.