Dynamic alterations in the gut microbiota and metabolome during the development of methionine-choline-deficient diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Figure 5 Methionine-choline-deficient diet altered the fecal metabolomic profile during nonalcoholic steatohepatitis progression. A: 4-state model of a PCA plot comparing between the Control 2w (cycle), MCD 2w (triangle), Control 4w (square), and MCD 4w groups (diamond). B: OPLS-DA score scatter plot comparing the Control 2w (cycle), MCD 2w (triangle), Control 4w (square), and MCD 4w groups (diamond). Each symbol represents one sample (n = 24 per group, with a quadruplicate technical replicates of 6 samples per group). C-D: S-plot constructed from the OPLS-DA model at 2 wk (C) and 4 wk (D). The selected metabolites (red triangles) are located in the upper far right and lower far left with considerable potential as biomarkers and marked discrimination between the groups. E-F: Euclidean distance hierarchical clustering analysis visualizing the different intensity levels of characteristic metabolites at 2 wk (E) and 4 wk (F). PCA: Principal component analysis; MCD: Methionine-choline-deficient; OPLS-DA: Orthogonal partial least-squares-discriminant analysis.