Effects of a Six Week Aerobic Exercise Intervention on the Composition of Oral and Skin Microbiota: a Pilot Study

Abstract

IntroductionExercise causes numerous physiological changes that may impact microbial communities at mucosal surfaces. Previously, our lab has shown that six weeks of aerobic exercise significantly alters the composition of the human gut microbiota. In the present study, we characterized the effects of an aerobic exercise on skin and oral microbiotas.MethodsPreviously sedentary but otherwise healthy adults (n= 10) were recruited to undergo a six‐week aerobic exercise intervention. Participants performed three exercise sessions per week on a bike or treadmill, starting with 30 min at 60% HRR and progressing to 60 min at 75% HRR by week six. Skin and oral swabs were collected at baseline and after cessation of exercise training. An additional skin swab was collected after the first exercise session to measure acute changes in skin microbiota. Skin swabs were moistened with sampling buffer before swabbing the antecubital fossa. Oral swabs were taken by swabbing the center of the tongue. DNA was isolated from samples and 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed.ResultsSix weeks of chronic exercise caused a significant shift in the skin microbiota (unweighted PERMANOVA p = 0.017) that was not evident after a single acute exercise bout. Oral microbial communities were not significantly different from baseline after six weeks of chronic exercise training. For both skin and oral samples, there were no significant changes in alpha diversity or species evenness with exercise, and no significant differences in relative abundance on the genus level.ConclusionA six‐week aerobic exercise intervention is sufficient to alter the skin microbiota, but not the oral microbiota. This study should be replicated with a larger sample size to confirm these preliminary findings.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.