Detection strategies for bioassays based on luminescent lanthanide complexes and signal amplification

Two attractive detection strategies for bioassays are reviewed in this article. Both approaches use the highly sensitive time-resolved luminescence detection of lanthanide complexes in combination with a signal amplification scheme. While enzyme-amplified lanthanide luminescence (EALL) has been an established technique for more than a decade, nanoparticles doped with luminescent lanthanide complexes have been introduced very recently. In this paper, the basic properties and major applications of both techniques are presented, and their future perspectives are discussed critically.