ODP409 Exercise Increases Microbiota Diversity in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Secondary Analysis of a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have reduced diversity and altered composition of gut microbiota (all microorganisms in the intestine) compared with healthy women. Shifts in gut microbiota with exercise may mediate some of the beneficial (e. g. anti-inflammatory) effects of exercise. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of exercise training on gut microbiota diversity (number of different species) and composition in women with PCOS. METHODS: 18–40-year-old women with PCOS were randomly assigned to six months of thrice-weekly high-intensity interval training (HIIT), continuous aerobic exercise training (CAET) or no-exercise control. Stool samples were collected pre- and post-intervention. Bacterial DNA was extracted from stool samples and microbial sequencing performed on the MiSeq Illumina platform with amplification of the V3 and V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene. The IDTAXA classifier was used to classify reads with the Silva rRNA database. Alpha diversity (within sample diversity) was measured using Shannon and Simpson indices. Changes in bacterial community structure (beta diversity) were based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity and visualized using principal coordinates analysis. RESULTS: Data were available for 19 women pre- and post-intervention: control (n=8), CAET (n=6) and HIIT (n=5). In all samples, Firmicutes were the most abundant bacterial phylum followed by Bacteroidetes. The abundance of Actinobacteria, Verrucomicrobia and Proteobacteria decreased with exercise training in both exercise groups. Alpha diversity increased for all HIIT participants, but the effect was inconsistent in CAET participants with an increase in 3 (50%) participants. There were no statistically significant changes in beta diversity. CONCLUSION: Exercise training may change the relative abundance of bacteria taxa of gut microbiota, and increase alpha diversity but not beta diversity in women living with PCOS. Further larger studies are needed to determine the effect of exercise training on gut microbiota in this population. Presentation: No date and time listed