Identification of the Potential Metabolic Pathways Involved in the Hepatic Tumorigenesis of Rat Diethylnitrosamine-Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma via ¹H NMR-Based Metabolomic Analysis

Figure 3

The metabolic profiles of the rat livers analyzed by PCA score plot at the different time points. (a) PCA score plot based on ¹H NMR spectra of rat liver tissue samples in the DEN-treated group 3 weeks (red circle), 8 weeks (maroon triangle), and 15 weeks (pink square) after DEN treatment and the PCA score plot of liver tissue samples in the control group harvested at the corresponding time points of 3 weeks (black sqaure), 8 weeks (blue diamond) and 15 weeks (yellow triangle), showing that the control groups were gathered together, but the DEN-treated groups were separated from each other, indicating that the metabolic pattern of liver was significantly affected during hepatocarcinogenesis. (b) The liver PCA trajectory plot based on the mean ¹H NMR spectra of liver tissue samples of the two groups, showing the influence of hepatocarcinogenesis on the metabolic profiles was stronger than that of the growth of the rats themselves.

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