i3N, Department of Physics, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
Department of Engineering, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy.
Biosensors (Basel). 2022 Jul 28;12(8):575. doi: 10.3390/bios12080575.
In the last years, optical fiber sensors have proven to be a reliable and versatile biosensing tool. Optical fiber biosensors (OFBs) are analytical devices that use optical fibers as transducers, with the advantages of being easily coated and biofunctionalized, allowing the monitorization of all functionalization and detection in real-time, as well as being small in size and geometrically flexible, thus allowing device miniaturization and portability for point-of-care (POC) testing. Knowing the potential of such biosensing tools, this paper reviews the reported OFBs which are, at the moment, the most cost-effective. Different fiber configurations are highlighted, namely, end-face reflected, unclad, D- and U-shaped, tips, ball resonators, tapered, light-diffusing, and specialty fibers. Packaging techniques to enhance OFBs' application in the medical field, namely for implementing in subcutaneous, percutaneous, and endoscopic operations as well as in wearable structures, are presented and discussed. Interrogation approaches of OFBs using smartphones' hardware are a great way to obtain cost-effective sensing approaches. In this review paper, different architectures of such interrogation methods and their respective applications are presented. Finally, the application of OFBs in monitoring three crucial fields of human life and wellbeing are reported: detection of cancer biomarkers, detection of cardiovascular biomarkers, and environmental monitoring.
在过去的几年中，光纤传感器已被证明是一种可靠且用途广泛的生物传感工具。光纤生物传感器（OFBs）是一种分析设备，它使用光纤作为换能器，具有易于涂覆和生物功能化的优点，可实时监测所有功能化和检测，并且尺寸小，几何形状灵活，从而允许设备小型化和便携化，用于即时护理（POC）测试。了解这种生物传感工具的潜力，本文综述了目前最具成本效益的报告的 OFB。突出显示了不同的光纤配置，即端面反射、无包层、D 形和 U 形、尖端、球谐振器、锥形、光扩散和特种光纤。介绍并讨论了用于增强 OFB 在医疗领域应用的封装技术，即在皮下、经皮和内窥镜操作以及可穿戴结构中实施。使用智能手机硬件进行 OFB 的询问方法是获得具有成本效益的传感方法的好方法。在本文综述中，介绍了这种询问方法的不同架构及其各自的应用。最后，报告了 OFB 在监测人类生命和健康的三个关键领域中的应用：癌症生物标志物的检测、心血管生物标志物的检测和环境监测。
