Along with lungs and kidneys, human curiosity was on display yesterday at Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore.

Friday's ABC News report raising questions about how bodies in China are procured for exhibitions in the United States didn't keep a crowd away or dampen visitors' enthusiasm.

Barring proof of wrongdoing, some said, they'd take the opportunity to see the human form stripped down and up close.

"It's educational, interesting," said Baden resident Desiree Rotondo, who attended "Bodies ... The Exhibition" with her husband, Joe, and the couple's 9-month-old, Adrien.

Standing in the exhibition yesterday, center director Jo Haas defended the decision to bring it to Pittsburgh, saying correspondent Brian Ross' report on "20/20" offered no evidence that bodies had been obtained improperly.

Ms. Haas said the center's ethics advisory board, consulted after the program aired, felt the same. She said bodies were unclaimed by relatives but legally obtained in China by Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions.

Premier issued a statement saying it hasn't broken any laws and treats bodies with respect. It said it uses only bodies of people who died of natural causes and has a medical team that checks specimens for signs of injury or torture.

Science center officials said they were pleased with yesterday's attendance. About 2,100 had come through by 2 p.m., a typical figure for that point on a Saturday, spokeswoman Ann Metzger said.

Ten minutes after the center opened, a steady stream of visitors was winding its way through exhibit halls featuring bodies stripped to the muscles and organs in plastic cases.

One arched body clutched a tennis racket; another dove for a soccer ball.

A pair of healthy lungs and a set blackened by smoking were propped side-by-side. Strategically placed nearby was a plastic garbage can into which shaken smokers had tossed packages of cigarettes.

The exhibit included birth defects, cancer and kidney disease and offered a view of the body as seen by a magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, machine.

"I've always been interested in seeing how stuff works in the body," Mike Dixon, 25, of Johnstown, Cambria County, said.

The exhibit was far better than a textbook, said Heidi Niebauer, 27, who attended with Mr. Dixon.

Signs throughout the hall gave medical trivia. But one said, "The specimens in this exhibition have been treated with the dignity and respect they richly deserve."

Mr. Ross' ABC report focused on a black market that allegedly provides bodies, including those of executed prisoners, for displays overseas.

He raised questions about how Premier Exhibitions, which provided bodies for exhibitions in various cities, obtained the bodies and labeled them for customs purposes.

"There is no hard evidence that executed prisoners' bodies ended up in Premier's exhibits, but the fact is, Geller's company does not know who the bodies are, or were," ABC said on its Web site, referring to Premier's chairman, Arnie Geller.

ABC reported that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo had subpoenaed information from Premier, and the network quoted a company lawyer as saying he welcomed an investigation.

Ms. Haas said science center expected controversy about the exhibit, including questions about the bodies' provenance, but decided to bring it to town anyway for educational reasons.

She said the center investigated Premier carefully and noted that officials assured her that the bodies are of people who died of natural causes.

"We have sworn affidavits," she said, noting unclaimed bodies often are used for education.

Ms. Haas counted schoolchildren, college students and groups of physicians among the more than 150,000 visitors to the exhibition. It opened in October and closes May 4.

The center declined to say how much money "Bodies" had generated.

Squirrel Hill resident Elaine Catz quit her job as an education coordinator at the science center because of religious objections to the exhibition and concerns about the bodies' provenance. She said yesterday that she believed the ABC report left "reasonable doubt about where the bodies are from."

"There are so many issues related to this," said Ms. Catz, who has created a "virtual protest" Web site.