The relationship between microwave radiation injury and abnormal lipid metabolism

•Sixty-eight abnormal lipids in serum were identified as potential biomarkers related to microwave radiation injury.•The changes of serum TG and HDL and the AEL of MWM test were well matched with the alterations in endogenous lipids.•Targeting lipid metabolism may provide a new therapeutic strategy for the microwave radiation injury. Microwave radiation can lead to some biological effects, mainly involving the nervous and reproductive systems. However, its lipid metabolic mechanism remains unclear. Here, we performed an untargeted metabolomics approach to analyze lipid metabolic changes caused by microwave radiation using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). Then, multivariate analysis was used to reveal the different lipid metabolites and metabolic pathways. Compared with the sham group, biochemical parameters of the microwave group had significant changes in triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. Sixty-eight abnormal lipids were identified, which were mainly distributed in linoleic acid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism and glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor biosynthesis. Among them, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and linoleic acid showed mainly upregulated expression, while sphingomyelin (SM), cholesterol esters (CE) and some free fatty acids (FFAs) showed downregulated expression. Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and triacylglycerol (TG) were increased or decreased. Furthermore, we obtained significant links between lipid metabolic changes and cognitive damage caused by microwave radiation. Together, our results suggested that microwave radiation could cause changes in lipid metabolism and provided a novel insight into the role of lipids in microwave radiation. Targeting lipid metabolism may provide a new therapeutic strategy for microwave radiation injury.