Nanomaterials and new biorecognition molecules based surface plasmon resonance biosensors for mycotoxin detection

Mycotoxins are highly toxic secondary metabolites, which may contaminate many types of food and feeds. These toxins have serious health risks for both human and animals. One of the effective ways to prevent food contamination and protect people against mycotoxins is based on timely detection. Several methods like enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and affinity chromatography are commercially available for this purpose. Nevertheless, sensitive, fast, simple, low-cost, and portable devices are absolutely required for a fast point-of care information and making decisions. Application of biosensors appears to be a possible technique to meet this need for mycotoxins analyze. The present study has been focused on the literature update of smart using of biosensing for detection of mycotoxin at both academic and industrial levels in order to replace conventional chromatographic methods. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) as one of the relatively novel and simple analytical method has been proven for rapid, sensitive, label-free detection and widely used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of multiplexed pollutant in real-time. This paper aims to provide an extensive overview on biosensors for mycotoxin detection by highlighting the main biorecognition elements. Moreover, SPR principles, assay formats, and signal enhancement are summarized.