Convergence between bone and energy homeostases: Leptin regulation of bone mass

The observation that obesity protects from osteoporosis suggested that energy metabolism and bone mass could be regulated by the same hormones. Testing this hypothesis revealed that leptin regulates bone mass through a hypothalamic relay and using two neural mediators, the sympathetic tone and CART, both acting on one cell type the osteoblast. This review summarizes the genetic and molecular bases of this regulation and discusses its potential clinical implications.