Exercise and the microbiome: Mechanistic perspectives of the impact of exercise on the gut-vascular axis

Given the participation of the microbiome in human health and disease, understanding the context of host-microbe interactions involved in vascular pathophysiology is now evolving through identifying microbial communities, specific taxa, and metabolic profiling which can be coupled to human health outcomes. Exercise has been used to define mechanisms related to improved vascular health, which may involve the microbiome. Motivated by the clinical significance that both exercise and the gut microbiome have; the objective of our work is to assist in defining the gut-vascular axis while identifying biomarkers of gut microbial health linked to vascular function. In this Commentary, we will provide context to the mechanistic perspectives of exercise-induced improvements in gut microbial characteristics coupled to vascular health outcomes and offer insight on necessary future prospective investigations.