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A skeleton key to metabolism

Nature Medicine volume 13, pages 1021–1023 (2007)Cite this article

The bone-specific protein osteocalcin has now been shown to act as a hormone that profoundly affects glucose and fat metabolism. This discovery completes an endocrine circuit with the skeleton as a ductless gland.

A link between energy metabolism and bone has long been suspected but poorly defined. Obesity protects against osteoporosis, and maturity-onset (type 2) diabetes is associated with increased bone mineral density and fewer fractures1,2. A direct link was made with the discovery that the adipocyte-derived hormone leptin acts on the osteoblast endocrine cell to inhibit bone formation through hypothalamic and sympathetic nervous system relays3,4. Working on the hypothesis that endocrine regulation requires feedback control, the same investigators complete a previously unknown endocrine circuit with their discovery5 that the skeleton is a ductless gland, whose osteoblasts secrete a protein that profoundly influences insulin production and sensitivity and fat metabolism.

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Figure 1: Osteocalcin (Ocn) is produced by differentiated osteoblasts, where it is γ-carboxylated to the predominant circulating form (GlaOcn).

Katie Ris-Vicari

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. T. John Martin is in St. Vincent's Institute and the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, 9 Princes Street, Fitzroy 3065, Victoria, Australia. jmartin@svi.edu.au,

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  1. T John Martin
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Martin, T. A skeleton key to metabolism. Nat Med 13, 1021–1023 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0907-1021

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