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Review
. 2020 Mar 30;11(4):356.
doi: 10.3390/mi11040356.

Recent Progress in Optical Sensors for Biomedical Diagnostics

Muqsit Pirzada  1 , Zeynep Altintas  1
Affiliations
Review

Recent Progress in Optical Sensors for Biomedical Diagnostics

Muqsit Pirzada et al. Micromachines (Basel). .

Abstract

In recent years, several types of optical sensors have been probed for their aptitude in healthcare biosensing, making their applications in biomedical diagnostics a rapidly evolving subject. Optical sensors show versatility amongst different receptor types and even permit the integration of different detection mechanisms. Such conjugated sensing platforms facilitate the exploitation of their neoteric synergistic characteristics for sensor fabrication. This paper covers nearly 250 research articles since 2016 representing the emerging interest in rapid, reproducible and ultrasensitive assays in clinical analysis. Therefore, we present an elaborate review of biomedical diagnostics with the help of optical sensors working on varied principles such as surface plasmon resonance, localised surface plasmon resonance, evanescent wave fluorescence, bioluminescence and several others. These sensors are capable of investigating toxins, proteins, pathogens, disease biomarkers and whole cells in varied sensing media ranging from water to buffer to more complex environments such as serum, blood or urine. Hence, the recent trends discussed in this review hold enormous potential for the widespread use of optical sensors in early-stage disease prediction and point-of-care testing devices.

Keywords: bioluminescence; biomedical diagnostics; biosensors; ellipsometry; evanescent wave; light addressable potentiometric sensors; optical sensors; reflectometric interference spectroscopy; surface enhanced Raman scattering; surface plasmon resonance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Different types of sensors classified on the basis of the underlying optical phenomenon arising from receptor-analyte interactions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Construction of different optical sensors.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Various strategies to enhance the signal of SPR sensors.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Surface functionalisation of a gold chip for SPR signal enhancement [36]. Reproduced with permission from [36].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Construction of Ti3C2-MXene-based SPR sensor for CEA detection [71]. Reproduced with permission from [71].
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) LSPR-based direct assay; (b) Principle of LSPR; (c) Shifting of the LSPR extinction peak to higher wavelength from an analyte free state (brown curve) to analyte bound state (pink curve).
Figure 7
Figure 7
A schematic illustration of evanescent wave-based sensing (n2 <n1).
Figure 8
Figure 8
(a) Competitive binding assay for the detection of xenoestrogens [165]; (b) AFM1 recognition with an optofluidic platform [167]; (c) HIgG sandwich assay using a U-bent fibre probe [170]; (d) Bacterial endotoxin recognition and signal enhancement in a U-bent fibre optic probe [171]. Abbreviations: AFM1: Aflatoxin M1; Anti–AFM1: Aflatoxin M1 antibody; Anti-E2: 17β-estradiol antibody; AuNP: Gold nanoparticles; BSA: Bovine serum albumin; Cy5.5: Cyanine5.5; E. coli: Escherichia coli; Fab: Antigen binding fragment; hERα: human estrogen receptor α; GaHIgG: Goat antibody of human immunoglobulin G; HIgG: Human immunoglobulin G; LPS: Lipoploysaccharide; MAb: Monoclonal antibodies; OTS: Octadecyltrichlorosilane; SDS: Sodium dodecyl sulphate. Reproduced with permission from [165,167,170,171].
Figure 8
Figure 8
(a) Competitive binding assay for the detection of xenoestrogens [165]; (b) AFM1 recognition with an optofluidic platform [167]; (c) HIgG sandwich assay using a U-bent fibre probe [170]; (d) Bacterial endotoxin recognition and signal enhancement in a U-bent fibre optic probe [171]. Abbreviations: AFM1: Aflatoxin M1; Anti–AFM1: Aflatoxin M1 antibody; Anti-E2: 17β-estradiol antibody; AuNP: Gold nanoparticles; BSA: Bovine serum albumin; Cy5.5: Cyanine5.5; E. coli: Escherichia coli; Fab: Antigen binding fragment; hERα: human estrogen receptor α; GaHIgG: Goat antibody of human immunoglobulin G; HIgG: Human immunoglobulin G; LPS: Lipoploysaccharide; MAb: Monoclonal antibodies; OTS: Octadecyltrichlorosilane; SDS: Sodium dodecyl sulphate. Reproduced with permission from [165,167,170,171].
Figure 9
Figure 9
(a) Small molecules as luciferins; (b) Photoproteins; (c) Bioluminescence with a luciferin-luciferase assembly.
Figure 10
Figure 10
(a) BRET-based real-time bioaerosol monitoring device [186]; (b) Vancomycin conjugated magnetic particles for gram-positive bacteria detection [187]; (c) Magnetic nanoliposomes for bioluminescent protein sensing [196]; (d) Magnetic sandwich assay for procalcitonin detection [197]; (e) Furimazine-based antibody detection using LUMABS [202]; (f) Obelin as a photoprotein in the sensing of anti-myelin basic protein autoantibody [210]. Abbreviations: Ab: Antibody; Ala: Alanine; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; AMP: Adenosine monophosphate; ATP: Adenosine triphosphate; B0/B1: Bioluminescence intensity; DPPC: 1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine; DPPE: 1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine; IgG: Immunoglobulin G; MBP: Myelin basic protein; MNP: Magnetic nanoparticles; PMT: Photomultiplier tube; PS: Carboxyl modified polystyrene microsphere; Obe: Obelin. Reproduced with permission from [186,187,196,197,202,210].
Figure 10
Figure 10
(a) BRET-based real-time bioaerosol monitoring device [186]; (b) Vancomycin conjugated magnetic particles for gram-positive bacteria detection [187]; (c) Magnetic nanoliposomes for bioluminescent protein sensing [196]; (d) Magnetic sandwich assay for procalcitonin detection [197]; (e) Furimazine-based antibody detection using LUMABS [202]; (f) Obelin as a photoprotein in the sensing of anti-myelin basic protein autoantibody [210]. Abbreviations: Ab: Antibody; Ala: Alanine; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; AMP: Adenosine monophosphate; ATP: Adenosine triphosphate; B0/B1: Bioluminescence intensity; DPPC: 1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine; DPPE: 1,2-Dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine; IgG: Immunoglobulin G; MBP: Myelin basic protein; MNP: Magnetic nanoparticles; PMT: Photomultiplier tube; PS: Carboxyl modified polystyrene microsphere; Obe: Obelin. Reproduced with permission from [186,187,196,197,202,210].
Figure 11
Figure 11
(a) Sandwich-type aptasensor for PSA detection with MNPs and AuNPs [233]; (b) SERS-based bioimaging of cancer cells [236]. Abbreviations: Ag NR: Silver nanorods; Au NBP: Gold nanobipyramid; AuNP: Gold nanoparticle; DP: 4,4’-dipyridyl; FA: Folic acid; MBA: 4-mercaptobenzoic acid; rBSA: Reduced bovine serum albumin; SERS: Surface enhanced Raman scattering. Reproduced with permission from [233,236].
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