title: Investigation of biomechanical response of Hoffa's fat pad and comparative characterization.
abstract: The infrapatellar adipose body (Hoffa's fat pad, IFP) is situated between the patellar tendon, the femoral condyle and the tibial plateau. The IFP consists of lobules of white adipose tissue delimited by thin connective septa. The actual structural functionality of the IFP is debated and should pertain to a cushioning role in the knee joint, providing to distribute and to damp mechanical stresses during articular activity. The present study is aimed to analyze the correlation between histological configuration and mechanical properties of the IFP, compared to other adipose tissues, partially differentiated by composition and conformation. Histological and ultrastructural methods were exploited to analyze the microscopic anatomies of IFP, knee (KSF) and abdominal (ASF) subcutaneous fat tissues. Numerical micro-models of the different tissues were developed by using histo-morphometric data, as the size of adipose lobules, the thickness of the septa and their composition. Numerical analyses made it possible to evaluate the mechanical functionality of the different fat tissues considering the characteristic loading conditions, as compressive and shear actions. The results pointed out the actual mechanical relevance of IFP and KSF, while ASF exhibited different mechanical properties. Furthermore, the contribution of connective septa and adipose lobules to compressive and shear mechanical behavior was elucidated. This preliminary investigation represents the basis for biomechanical interpretation and the definition of more refined model to be developed on the acquisition of additional histological and morphometric data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Via F. Marzolo, 3, 35100 Padua, Italy; Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials, University of Padova, Via F. Marzolo 9, I-35131 Padova, Italy. Electronic address: chiaragiulia.fontanella@unipd.it.
authors.forename: Chiara Giulia
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Fontanella
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials, University of Padova, Via F. Marzolo 9, I-35131 Padova, Italy; Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Venezia 1, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele Luigi
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Carniel
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials, University of Padova, Via F. Marzolo 9, I-35131 Padova, Italy; Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Venezia 1, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frigo
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials, University of Padova, Via F. Marzolo 9, I-35131 Padova, Italy; Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Via A. Gabelli 65, 35127 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Macchi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials, University of Padova, Via F. Marzolo 9, I-35131 Padova, Italy; Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Via A. Gabelli 65, 35127 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Porzionato
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Via A. Gabelli 65, 35127 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sarasin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 2, 35100 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossato
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials, University of Padova, Via F. Marzolo 9, I-35131 Padova, Italy; Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Via A. Gabelli 65, 35127 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Caro
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials, University of Padova, Via F. Marzolo 9, I-35131 Padova, Italy; Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Venezia 1, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Arturo N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Natali
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D050507:Subcutaneous Fat, Abdominal / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure
keywords: Adipose tissue; Computational biomechanics; Hoffa's fat pad; Soft tissue mechanics