Fig. 6: Changes in the fecal metabolome of patients in the P9 (pro; n = 80) and placebo (pla; n = 81) groups during and after the intervention.

a Principal component analysis (PCA) and (b) partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) score scatter plots of the fecal metabolome in the two groups at days 0 (0 d), 28 (28 d), and 42 (42 d) of the intervention. Adonis test results are shown in the lower right corner of the PLS-DA score plots. QC represents quality control samples. c Significant differential fecal metabolites identified between the two groups at days 28 and 42. Variable importance in projection (VIP) scores were generated by PLS-DA to identify metabolites contributing to the discrimination, while P-values were calculated using the two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test (cut-off level: VIP > 2; P < 0.05). d Boxplots showing relevant responsive fecal metabolites to the P9 intervention. The boxplots represent the interquartile range of each group’s distribution of values; the lines inside the boxes represent the median values; the whiskers denote the lowest and highest values within 1.5 times the interquartile range of each group; the dots above/below the upper/lower line are the outliers. Statistically significant differences are indicated by the P-values, evaluated using the two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test, with P < 0.05 considered statistically significant. e Pearson correlation scatter plots showing the correlation between differential fecal metabolites and clinical indicators of diarrhea in the P9 group after 28 days of intervention. The gray error band represents the fitted values, and the shaded area indicates the 95% confidence interval. The blue dots represent the values on the X and Y axes, respectively. Source data can be found in the Source Data file.