ObjectiveTo characterize the metabolite composition (i.e., metabonome) of the serum samples from chronic hepatitis B patients by using nuclear magnetic resonance 1H (1H NMR) spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis (PCA).MethodsThe 1H NMR sepctra were obtained for the serum samples from 8 healthy controls and 20 chronic hepatitis B patients, and the spectra data were analyzed by PCA to demonstrate the metabonomic changes.ResultsWe found that there were evident differences in metabonomics between the healthy controls and chronic hepatitis B patients. The levels of lipids and glucose were significantly increased in the chronic hepatitis B patient and the levels of lactate, alanine, valine, glutamine and phosphocholine/choline were significantly decreased compared with the healthy controls (P<0.05). ConclusionOur results indicate that the metabonomes of serum from chronic hepatitis B patients are different from those of the healthy controls. Serum 1H NMR sepctroscopy combined with PCA may offer reliable biochemistry evidence for diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B at molecular level.