The study found that a brain hormone called CCN3, released from kisspeptin‑producing neurons during lactation, helps build bone by activating skeletal stem cells. When CCN3 was reduced, mother mice lost bone and could not support their pups on a low‑calcium diet. This points to CCN3 as a possible new bone‑building signal for both sexes.

In lactating mothers, the high calcium (Ca²⁺) demand for milk production triggers significant bone loss¹. Although oestrogen normally counteracts excessive bone resorption by promoting bone formation, this sex steroid drops precipitously during this postpartum period. Here we report that brain-derived cellular communication network factor 3 (CCN3) secreted from KISS1 neurons of the arcuate nucleus (ARC^KISS1) fills this void and functions as a potent osteoanabolic factor to build bone in lactating females. We began by showing that our previously reported female-specific, dense bone phenotype² originates from a humoral factor that promotes bone mass and acts on skeletal stem cells to increase their frequency and osteochondrogenic potential. This circulatory factor was then identified as CCN3, a brain-derived hormone from ARC^KISS1 neurons that is able to stimulate mouse and human skeletal stem cell activity, increase bone remodelling and accelerate fracture repair in young and old mice of both sexes. The role of CCN3 in normal female physiology was revealed after detecting a burst of CCN3 expression in ARC^KISS1 neurons coincident with lactation. After reducing CCN3 in ARC^KISS1 neurons, lactating mothers lost bone and failed to sustain their progeny when challenged with a low-calcium diet. Our findings establish CCN3 as a potentially new therapeutic osteoanabolic hormone for both sexes and define a new maternal brain hormone for ensuring species survival in mammals.