It is the whole-body “plastinates” that are bound to fascinate the first-time visitor to “Body Worlds & the Story of the Heart,” the much-anticipated exhibit opening today in the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Presented in graceful, elevated poses throughout the main floor, these preserved human specimens, minus skin, seem to possess an almost sculptural quality. Look for a great deal of open-mouthed staring from onlookers.

But once the array of complete bodies has been explored, it might be worthwhile to consider the individual parts displayed in glass cases like necklaces in a store counter.

Especially the case holding several hearts — one healthy, others opened to show the ravages of disease brought on by smoking or unhealthy eating and drinking. Or one in which a healthy lung is juxtaposed with others ruined by emphysema and lung cancer. Or yet another with an obese body sliced vertically to reveal thick, fatty tissue.

After all, educating viewers is the real motive behind “Body Worlds”— not shock value, as some critics have implied—insists Dr. Angelina Whalley, the traveling exhibit’s creative and conceptual designer.

And there are few more logical places for serious discussion about cardiovascular health than Buffalo, which has among the highest rates of heart disease in the nation, Whalley said Wednesday during a media preview in the museum on Humboldt Parkway.

Though she is proud of the show’s artistic look, it aims to engage emotionally and intellectually, she said.

“We need to not only show the science, but make the encounter easy”, Whalley said. “But the real service is in what people take from it, what they learn from it. The body is our lifelong responsibility — the sum total of our lifestyle.”

Visitors often come back for a second or third look, she said.

Body Worlds Comes To Buffalo

The Science Museum found an enthusiastic advocate for the Buffalo debut of “Body Worlds” in BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, which is sponsoring the exhibit with M&T Bank.

“Any time a health insurer can increase awareness and enhance education and understanding, that is a very worthwhile initiative,” said spokeswoman

Karen Merkel-Liberatore. “Improved health can never be a bad thing.”

“Body Worlds” is the brainchild of Dr. Gunther von Hagens, a German anatomist who in 1978 invented plastinization, a process that replaces water and other fluids with plastic, thus preserving dead tissue indefinitely.

Since premiering in Japan nine years ago, “Body Worlds” has become a juggernaut seen by 27 million people. Six shows currently are touring the globe. The Buffalo exhibit, the first in New York State, includes more than 200 specimens — entire bodies, individual organs and transparent body slices.

Von Hagens has maintained that the purpose of these exhibits is to raise people’s awareness of their own fragility so they take better care of their health.

Critics, including the Catholic Church, counter that the displays are sensationalistic and offend human dignity. The version presented in Berlin in 2001 catered to “public lust for sensation,” a local priest said then.

Von Hagens, who is Whalley’s husband, uses cadavers donated for anatomical research to create specimens for “Body Worlds.” More than 10,000 people are on the donor registry, including many who signed up after seeing the exhibit.

Apparently for comparison’s sake, a plastinated camel is traveling with the Buffalo version of the show.

Because the museum expects intense interest in this event, which will run through Oct. 4, tickets are timed by date and hour. Admission is $22 for adults 19 to 61, $19.50 for senior citizens 62 and older, and $16 for children 3 to 18 and students and members of the military who present identification. Museum members pay reduced rates. To reserve, call 896-5200 or visit www.sciencebuff.org/bw.Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Ticket orders and reservations for groups of 15 or more are being taken by Shea’s Performing Arts Center. For group rates and bookings, call 829-1153 or 829-1154.