Skeletal energy homeostasis: a paradigm of endocrine discovery

Throughout the last decade, significant developments in cellular, molecular and mouse models have revealed major endocrine functions of the skeleton. More recent studies have evolved the interplay between bone-specific hormones, the skeleton, marrow adipose tissue, muscle and the brain. This review focuses on literature from the last decade, addressing the endocrine regulation of global energy metabolism via the skeleton. In addition, we will highlight several recent studies that further our knowledge of new endocrine functions of some organs; explore remaining unanswered questions; and, finally, we will discuss future directions for this more complex era of bone biology research.