Abstract:Nano explosives have attracted wide attention due to their unique performance advantage, but the lack of understanding of this type of biological toxicity will limit their industrial application. In order to determine the toxicity effect of nanometer hexanitrophosphonium(HNS), triaminotrinitrobenzene(TATB), and 2,6-diamino-3,5-dinitropyrazine-1-oxide(LLM-105) on RAW264.7 macrophages. The RAW 264.7 cells were treated with different concentrations of nanoparticles for 24 h. CCK-8 assays were applied for testing macrophage cytotoxicity in vitro, which were based on mitochondrial activity evaluation. In order to determine the mechanism of cell death, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in supernatant, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) intra-cellular fluid were determined. The morphologic change of RAW 264.7 was also observed. The results showed that all three types of nano-explosives could significantly reduce the activity of RAW264.7 cells and showed a dose-dependent relationship. Their half inhibitory concentrations (IC50) on RAW264.7 cells were 49.3,211.3 μg·mL-1, and 6.6 μg·mL-1,respectively. The RAW264.7 cells exhibited various morphological changes such as shrinkage and roundness. The LDH activity in the supernatant also showed an upward trend. In addition, TATB and LLM-105 decreased the activity of SOD, the content of MDA increased with concentration of LLM-105. The results clearly indicated that nano-matter HNS, TATB, and LLM-105 have toxic effects on RAW264.7 cells, destroying the integrity of the cell membrane and triggering oxidative stress are important elements of cytotoxicity.