Fig. 7: Metabolomic analysis of three cohorts.

a PCA scores plots for mxFRIZNGRND results of three cohorts. b Partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) of three cohorts. c Metabolic signature of different cohorts. Different lipids and hydrophilic metabolites between cohorts displayed in a heatmap were divided into four groups to distinguish PZ, TZ, and PTM metabolomics. The heatmap displays metabolites that were significantly different (P < 0.05, one-way ANOVA) between cohorts, which were subsequently clustered into four groups using the Mfuzz algorithm. The color scale represents the relative abundance of each metabolite compared to the TZ group (red, increased; blue, decreased). d Dysregulation of choline-phospholipid metabolism pathway in three cohorts, with increased phosphatidylcholine (PC) synthesis observed in PTM samples. e Central carbon metabolism pathway in three cohorts, showing increased glycolysis and decreased TCA cycle in PTM samples. f Pyrimidine metabolism pathway in three cohorts, with enriched cytosine and uracil in PTM samples. g Sphingolipids metabolism pathway in three cohorts, with enriched hexose ceramide (HexCer) in PTM samples. The average abundance of metabolites and gene expression in TZ, PZ, and PTM samples are marked with different colors in three consecutive boxes. Significantly changed metabolites or genes compared to TZ group with red denoting increased abundance and blue denoting decreased abundance (P < 0.05, one-way ANOVA). PC phosphatidylcholine, PS phosphatidylserine, PE phosphatidylethanolamine, DAG diacylglycerol, PA phosphatidic acid, PSC phosphorylcholine, LPC lysophosphatidylcholine, S1P sphingosine 1-phosphate, Cer ceramide, HexCer hexose ceramide, Hex2Cer dihexosyl-ceramide. PZ, n = 4, TZ, n = 6, and PTM, n = 4.