Expression and clinical significance of short-chain fatty acids in patients with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy

Figure 1 Characteristics of altered maternal serum short-chain fatty acids metabolic spectrum in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy patients. A: Principal Component Analysis score plot: intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) patients displayed a clear distinction from the normal pregnant women; B: Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis score plot: ICP patients showed a clear distinction from the normal pregnant women; C: Variable importance for the projection diagram: The differences in the maternal serum short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) between the two groups of subjects can be attributed to the significant impact of acetic acid and caproic acid as crucial metabolites; D: Heat map: All SCFAs in the serum of ICP patients, except for isobutyric acid, demonstrated a decreasing trend; E: Quantitative analysis bar chart: Acetic acid showed the highest concentration in maternal serum. The content of isobutyric acid displayed the most significant difference between the two groups, thereby exhibiting extremely low levels in the normal pregnant women. NP: n = 30; ICP: n = 34. PCA: Principal Component Analysis; SCFAs: Short-chain fatty acids; OPLS-DA: Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis; VIP: Variable Importance for the Projection.