Identification of Differential Metabolites
Changes in metabolite abundance among groups were reflected in relative differences between metabolic species. The metabolites with the most significant changes are listed in Table 3. Metabolites that positively correlated with VVC were mainly derived from sugar alcohols, amino acids, and unsaturated fatty acids, including L-(-)-arabitol, D-(+)-arabitol, L-tyrosine, epsilon-(gamma-glutamyl)-lysine, L-methionine sulfoxide, L-(+)-alanine, arachidonic acid, linoleic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid. The relative abundance of these metabolites was significantly higher in the VVC group compared to the CTL group (Fig5. A-C). Most metabolites that were downregulated in the VVC group were organic acids and fatty acyls such as ethyl 3-oxohexanoate, arachidic acid, and phloionolic acid (Fig5. D-E).
Table 3. Significantly different metabolites (P < 0.05)