Fig. 5

Amino acid metabolism plays a role in blood inflammation and hormonal changes during the AFB1 and coccidia exposure. a Schematic representation of the experimental design and program diagram. b Expression levels of inflammatory factors IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α and LPS. c Expression levels of estrogen receptors ERα and ERβ (n = 3). d OPLS-DA score plots for the Con and AFB1, E.o and AFB1+E.o groups. e KEGG enrichment pathway analysis of DEMs. f Expression of 10 metabolites enriched in the amino acid metabolic pathways in different groups. A, 3-dehydroquinic acid. B, indole. C, serine. D, L-methionine. E, O-acetyl-l-serine. F, succinate. G, ephedrine. H, 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid. I, N-acetyl-l-phenylalanine. J, phenaceturic acid. g Differential analysis of the ten metabolites enriched in amino acid metabolic pathways. Groups were compared using the Kruskal–Wallis nonparametric test, and the two groups were compared using Dunn’s test. h Association analysis of the ten metabolites with inflammatory factors and blood hormones. Statistical significance was indicated by ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, and ^***p < 0.001 (AFB1, E.o, and AFB1+E.o vs Con); or ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, and ^###p < 0.001 (AFB1+E.o vs AFB1 and E.o)(n = 4)