Differential Gut Scfa Microbial Taxa Correlated With Blood Pressure Status In African American Collegiate Athletes

INTRODUCTION: The gut microbiome and reduced short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) producing microbes have been related to hypertension status in sedentary individuals. Hypertension is common amongst athletes and epidemiologic data reports that cardiovascular sudden death is more common in African Americans (AA) (5-fold), compared to whites, and is related to the elevated prevalence of hypertension independently in athletes and in AA. Exercise is generally known to reduce blood pressure (BP) and stimulates beneficial changes in the gut microbiome to promote gut health (increasing gut SCFA), but it is unknown whether there are differential gut microbial characteristics related to BP status in athletes. PURPOSE: To determine gut microbial characteristics related to gut SCFA in AA collegiate athletes with and without hypertension and identify specific microbial taxa related to BP status. METHODS: The present work included 30 AA collegiate athletes stratified by normal BP (systolic BP (SBP) ≤129 mmHg; n=15) and high BP (SBP ≥130 mmHg; n=15) and we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing on fecal samples. RESULTS: Relative to BP status, we did not observe any significant differences in alpha or beta diversity, or operational taxonomic units (OTUs). However, we observed that SCFA producing microbes were differentially abundant between the 2 groups and the relative abundance of some microbes were significantly correlated with systolic BP (g_Lactococcus, R=0.5 p=0.0074; g_Aldercruetzia, R=0.59 p=0.001; g_Paraprevotella, R=-0.38 p=0.044; g_cc_115, R=0.41 p=0.29). CONCLUSION: We report that SCFA producing microbes were differentially abundant in AA collegiate athletes stratified by BP status. Although exercise training broadly increases SCFA microbes in the gut, identification of microbial community characteristics and specific taxa will provide insight into gut microbial functional profiles related to greater BP in AA collegiate athletes.