1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy-based metabonomic study in patients with cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy

Table 2 Results for ketone bodies, branch chain and aromatic amino acids are shown

	Chemical shift	Cirrhosis	Encephalopathy	Controls
Acetoacetate	2.29	0.23 ± 0.02b	0.41 ± 0.05b	0.05 ± 0.00
Β-hydroxybutyr	2.31	0.58 ± 0.14b	0.16 ± 0.02b	0.08 ± 0.00
Leucine	0.96	0.33 ± 0.02	0.49 ± 0.05b	0.35 ± 0.02
Isoleucine	1.01	0.12 ± 0.02	0.27 ± 0.02b	0.13 ± 0.02
Valine	1.04	0.14 ± 0.01d	0.16 ± 0.02d	0.36 ± 0.03
Phenylalanine	7.38	0.08 ± 0.01b	0.06 ± 0.02b	0.02 ± 0.01
Tyrosine	6.91	0.23 ± 0.02b	0.25 ± 0.06b	0.07 ± 0.00
Methionine	2.14	0.07 ± 0.02b	0.08 ± 0.02b	0.03 ± 0.01

Acetoacetate and β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations were significantly higher in patients than controls (^bP < 0.01 in all cases). Aromatic amino acids concentrations were significantly higher in patients than controls (P < 0.01 in all cases). Valine concentrations were significantly lower in patients than controls (^dP < 0.01). Leucine was significantly higher if we compared encephalopathics with controls (^bP < 0.01), but there was no difference if we compared cirrhotics and controls. Isoleucine was significantly lower if we compared encephalopathics with controls (^bP < 0.01) but there was no difference between cirrhotics and controls.