Aging brain, brittle bone

Accumulating evidence suggests that neurons are key regulators of skeletal tissues. A recent study by Chen et al. demonstrated that aged brain neurons export WD repeat and FYVE domain containing 1 (WDFY1) to bone via extracellular vesicles. After uptake, WDFY1 engages in retromer-dependent endosome-to-Golgi recycling, shifting bone stem cell fate from osteogenesis toward adipogenesis, revealing a novel mechanism whereby brain aging regulates bone aging.