Fig. 4

Overall patterns of fecal metabolomes in SONFH and AONFH patients. (A) Principal component analysis (PCA) plot based on non-targeted LC-MS/MS data of fecal samples from the steroid and alcohol groups, depicting the metabolic spectra and features. (B) Scatter plot of PLS-DA identifying metabolic distinctions and separations between the steroid and alcohol groups. p-values of 2.03e − 10 and 0.00049 were obtained for components 1 and 2, respectively. (C) Scatter plot of OPLS-DA showing metabolic distinctions and separations between two groups. (D) Volcano plot illustrating significant changes in fecal metabolites. Metabolites with a p-value <0.05 were deemed significantly different. Upward points suggest a significant rise in the abundance of fecal metabolites in SONFH compared to AONFH; downward points indicate a significant decrease in the abundance of metabolites in SONFH; Some metabolites are labeled with corresponding annotations. (E) Percentage stacked bar chart showing the relative abundance and percentage of significantly increased metabolites in the steroid group compared to both groups. (F) Percentage stacked bar chart showing the proportionate abundance and percentage of significantly decreased metabolites in SONFH compared to AONFH