Dear Colleagues,

Bone health is increasingly recognized as the outcome of dynamic communication among multiple organs and tissues rather than a process confined to the skeletal system alone. The skeleton interacts continuously with muscle, adipose tissue, the immune system, vasculature, nervous system, endocrine organs, gut, kidney, and other distant sites through hormonal signals, metabolites, extracellular vesicles, inflammatory mediators, neural regulation, and mechanical cues. These inter-organ networks shape bone development, remodeling, repair, aging, and disease progression across diverse physiological and pathological contexts.

This special issue, “Inter-Organ Communication: Global Spatial Perspectives on Bone Health,” aims to highlight emerging advances that redefine skeletal biology from a systemic and spatially integrated perspective. Historically, orthopedic research has focused primarily on local cellular events within bone, including osteoblast–osteoclast coupling, matrix remodeling, and fracture repair. Recent progress in spatial omics, single-cell technologies, advanced imaging, organoid models, multi-organ-on-chip systems, bioinformatics, and systems biology now enables researchers to map how distant organs and tissue microenvironments coordinate skeletal homeostasis and disease.

We welcome original research articles, reviews, perspectives, and clinical studies that explore inter-organ regulatory mechanisms underlying bone health and orthopedic disorders. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, bone–muscle crosstalk, bone–immune interactions, bone–vascular and bone–nerve coupling, gut–bone axis regulation, endocrine and metabolic control of skeletal remodeling, aging-related systemic influences on bone degeneration, spatial mapping of bone microenvironments, and multi-organ mechanisms involved in osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, fracture healing, spinal disorders, bone tumors, and implant integration.

Cutting-edge studies integrating spatial transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microbiome analysis, artificial intelligence, biomaterials, regenerative medicine, and translational models are particularly encouraged. Through this collection, we seek to promote a global and multidimensional understanding of bone health, providing new conceptual frameworks and therapeutic opportunities for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of orthopedic diseases.

Prof. Lei Zhou,

Guest Editor