Figure 2. Metabolic phenotypes of participants that differ by injury pathology are distinct.

(A) Plotting the top 25 PLS-DA Variable in Importance Projection Scores shows that different injury pathologies trigger distinct metabolic regulation patterns post-injury. Specifically, 12 of the 25 features are more abundant in meniscal injuries, whereas 13 of the 25 features were more abundant in L injuries. (B) MS/MS identified putative metabolites that differ in abundance between injury pathologies. Warmer colors (red) indicate higher abundance, while cooler colors (blue) indicate lower abundance. (C) Median metabolite intensity heatmap analysis of all metabolite features (7,994 distinct features) identified distinct metabolic phenotypes across injury pathologies and clusters of co-regulated metabolites. Clusters (1–3) were then subjected to pathway enrichment analyses to identify pathways that differed in regulation between injury pathologies. Warmer colors (yellow) and cooler colors (blue) indicate higher and lower metabolite intensities, respectively. The colors in A-C correspond to: Ligament injuries - light blue; Meniscal injuries - orange; Ligament and Meniscal injuries - red. L = ligament injuries. M = meniscal injuries. LM = ligament and meniscal injuries.