FIGURE 3.

Effects of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PAH on microbial communities. Bacterial 16S rRNA genes were analysed from faecal samples to characterise gut microbiomes. a) Three-dimensional principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed that control and MCT-treated cohorts have significantly distinct bacterial populations. b) Firmicutes (F) to Bacteroidetes (B) ratio (F/B) was increased in MCT rats, indicating gut dysbiosis. c) A cladogram showing family- and genus-level changes of bacteria in each group. d) Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was used to determine the bacteria most likely to explain differences between cohorts. *: p<0.05 versus control (n=5–6 rats per group).