Figure 5.

Effects of p-inulin treatment on plasma metabolites. (a) Principal component analysis of plasma metabolome. Different colors represent different subjects. (b) Significantly altered plasma metabolites influenced by p-inulin intervention (overall P < 0.05; intervention vs. baseline P < 0.05). Red text indicates increased metabolites at post-intervention (Post) phase compared with intervention phase (overall P < 0.05; Post vs. baseline P < 0.05). Blue text indicates decreased metabolites at Post phase compared with intervention phase (overall P < 0.05; Post vs. baseline P < 0.05). (c) Plasma levels of 3 uremic toxins by week. Left, trimethylamine N-oxide; middle, indoxyl sulfate; right, p-cresol sulfate. A significant overall time effect on indoxyl sulfate, trimethylamine N-oxide (both P < 0.001), and p-cresol sulfate (P = 0.004) was noted. (d) Correlation between bacterial strains with 3 microbial metabolites in 8 patients. Left, indoxyl sulfate; middle, p-cresol sulfate; right, trimethylamine N-oxide. (e) Trend of bacterial enzymes and microbial metabolites change over time. Left, tryptophanase and indoxyl sulfate in patient 1; middle, amino-acid transaminase and p-cresol sulfate in patient 2; right, betaine reductase, trimethylamine-N-oxide reductase, and trimethylamine N-oxide in patient 3. FDR, false discovery rate.