In a darkened exhibit hall, Jeff Cribbs bent to look at a lacy network of vibrant -- and authentic -- red and blue blood vessels suspended in a tank of clear liquid, their shape clearly suggesting a human heart. The actual organ itself was missing.

"How in the heck did they do that?" exclaimed Cribbs, who lives in Garner. "This is an art."

It was just one of many expressions of wonder that "BODIES: The Exhibition" provoked from Cribbs and other Triangle dwellers who ventured out on a breezy Easter Sunday to see the unique presentation of painstakingly dissected and specially preserved human bodies and anatomical specimens. The exhibit is open at The Streets at Southpoint mall in Durham -- one of five cities in the United States simultaneously hosting the traveling international show.

BODIES, which opened Thursday, divides human anatomy into general categories, such as skeleton and muscular system, nervous system and digestive tract, to give visitors a basic education in anatomy and body mechanics. Every specimen displayed comes from an actual human body.

Like many visitors, Cribbs found the circulatory system display one of the most visually arresting.

Glass tanks filled with a solution of water and formaldehyde showcase the networks of blood vessels that feed various parts of the body. Each delicate specimen is produced by injecting colored liquid polymer into the blood vessels to preserve and plasticize them. Then, an acid solution is applied to eat away the organ or soft tissues. Each case in the darkened room is lit from below to make the vessels stand out in vivid detail.

Dr. Laura Hale of Durham, a pathologist at Duke University Medical Center who teaches anatomy and physiology, was more impressed, however, with the skill it took to produce some of the less dazzling specimens on display. In one exhibit, a whole skeleton faces the body it was extracted from. The muscles, organs and other soft tissues are nearly intact. That's no small feat, said Hale, who has done her fair share of dissection.

An equally impressive example can be found in the nervous system room. A long glass case holds a brain, spinal column and complicated, feathery network of nerves. A docent volunteered that most full-body dissections, including the nervous system display, take about a year to complete.

"I can see why," Hale said of the nervous system specimen. "One mistake and you'd have to get another body."

Cribbs, who took his son Kyle, 18, and some visitors in town for the Easter weekend to see the exhibit, appreciated the educational and medical aspects of the show.

One set of cases shows a healthy heart next to a heart muscle damaged by heart attack. Another displays an unblemished aorta next to a thickened, lumpy example afflicted with hardening of the arteries. In the respiratory room, blackened smokers' lungs sit next to a pinker pair of healthy organs. Smokers are encouraged to drop packs of cigarettes in a glass bin. Exhibit staff said it took a couple of days for visitors to catch on, but by early Sunday afternoon the case contained three discarded packs.

"This is something your doctor can't convey, no matter how many times he explains it," said Cribbs, who has heart troubles and diabetes.

The squeamish may find some displays hard to take. For example, one room dedicated to fetal development shows preserved fetuses in various stages of development, including some that are close to fully developed. A sign outside the gallery advises visitors that the content may be upsetting to some and explains that all fetuses died in utero due to complications with the mothers' pregnancies.

Some visitors, such as George Fridrich of Cary, may feel a bit spooked by the whole experience of viewing human remains, no matter how artfully lighted and professionally displayed.

"I think it's interesting, but it gives me a little bit of the heebie- jeebies," said Fridrich, who admitted that coming to the exhibit was the idea of his wife, Paula. "Maybe if it wasn't real it would bother me less."

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.