Fig. 3.

Vac pretreatment elevates 2-HB in both cecum and serum. (A) PLS-DA plot of serum metabolites (n = 5). (B) Differential metabolites among groups (n = 5). (C) Pathway analysis based on the 13 differential metabolites in B. The quantitation of 2-HB in cecum contents (D) and serum (E) of rats 24 h after AP gavage (n = 5–8). (F–G) PCoA analysis at OTU level and column diagram at phylum level based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing (n = 5). (H) The abundance of propanoate metabolism pathway based on PICRUSt analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing (n = 5). (I) Heatmap of the relative abundance of LDH-producing bacteria at genus level (n = 5). Data were mean ± S.E.M. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01.