Non-targeted metabolomics of intestinal flora in seborrheic patients based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) techniques.

Background: To explore the role of intestinal flora in seborrhea, non-targeted metabolomics analysis was carried out.

Methods: Fecal samples were collected from 5 seborrheic patients and 5 healthy controls from October 2019 to April 2020. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) was used to detect metabolic fingerprinting in feces samples, and high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic analysis of 16S rRNA for intestinal flora. The variable importance in projection (VIP) values of orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and P values of univariate statistical analysis were used to determine the differential metabolites between the seborrhea group and the control group. The interaction between flora and metabolites was analyzed using several approaches.

Results: A total of 45 metabolites with significantly different intensities were found between the seborrhea group and the healthy control group. A positive correlation between flora and metabolites was found in 57 pairs and a negative correlation was found in 104 pairs. In addition, 11 metabolic pathways were significantly altered, including 4 amino acid metabolic pathways, 2 bile acid metabolic pathways, and 2 basic metabolic signaling pathways (ABC transporters pathway and mTOR signaling pathway). Central carbon metabolism in cancer, glutathione metabolism, protein digestion and absorption were also involved.

Conclusions: The occurrence of seborrhea may be related to changes in intestinal flora and metabolic pathways. There is a close association between seborrhea and amino acid metabolic pathways or ABC transporters.