CRITICAL POINT DRYING SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IN SITU TISSUE PRESERVATION

摘要

Methods and systems for preserving tissues in situ using critical point drying are disclosed. Such methods and systems are particularly applicable to the preservation of a deceased body, such as a deceased person or animal, with or without removal of internal tissues or organs. A fixative can be perfused through the vascular system of the body while blood is removed from the body. The exterior of the body can also be immersed in a bath of fixative. The fixative in the vascular system and the bath can be replaced by subsequent washes of buffer, de-ionized water, and/or alcohol. The alcohol-infused and fixated body can be disposed in a pressure chamber and subjected to a critical point drying process using carbon dioxide. After the critical point drying process, the body is in a preserved state.

主权项

1. A method for preserving a body or an organ thereof, the method comprising:
providing a preservation system, the preservation system comprising:
a pressure chamber having at least one fluid inlet and a vascular inlet line, the vascular inlet line comprising a fluid conduit disposed in an internal volume of the pressure chamber and having a needle or a cannula constructed for insertion into a portion of the vascular system of the body or the organ, the pressure chamber being sized and shaped so as to allow the body or the organ to be enclosed in the internal volume;a flow module configured to supply at least liquid carbon dioxide to the pressure chamber through the at least one fluid inlet and to the vascular system through the vascular inlet line;a temperature module configured to control the temperature of the pressure chamber; anda system controller configured to control the flow module to fill the pressure chamber and the vascular system with liquid carbon dioxide and to control the temperature module to heat the liquid carbon dioxide in the chamber and the vascular system above the carbon dioxide critical point temperature and pressure,the pressure chamber being constructed to withstand a temperature and a pressure of at least said carbon dioxide critical point temperature and pressure; perfusing the body or the organ with liquid carbon dioxide by way of the vascular inlet line connected to the vascular system of the body or organ while the body or the organ is in the pressure chamber; exposing external surfaces of the body or the organ to liquid carbon dioxide supplied via said at least one fluid inlet while the body or the organ is in the pressure chamber; heating the body or the organ in the sealed pressure chamber until the temperature and pressure in said pressure chamber meet or exceed the critical point for carbon dioxide; and after the heating, exhausting carbon dioxide from the pressure chamber and the body or the organ therein.