  We study the regularity properties of the centered fractional maximal
function $M_{\beta}$. More precisely, we prove that the map $f \mapsto |\nabla
M_\beta f|$ is bounded and continuous from $W^{1,1}(\mathbb{R}^d)$ to
$L^q(\mathbb{R}^d)$ in the endpoint case $q=d/(d-\beta)$ if $f$ is radial
function. For $d=1$, the radiality assumption can be removed. This corresponds
to the counterparts of known results for the non-centered fractional maximal
function. The main new idea consists in relating the centered and non-centered
fractional maximal function at the derivative level.
