Geleta Girma Selale, Saraiva Douglas P M, Ribeiro Leonardo M A, Pereira Jian F S, Bertotti Mauro
Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 748, 05513-970, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; College of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Salale University, P. O. Box 245, Fiche, Oromia, Ethiopia.
Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 748, 05513-970, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Talanta. 2025 Jul 22;297(Pt A):128589. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2025.128589.
Aquatic toxins are potent, naturally occurring compounds produced by dinoflagellates, cyanobacteria, and diatoms during harmful algal blooms (HABs) in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. These toxins can accumulate in seafood, such as scallops, oysters, mussels, and certain fish, posing a significant global threat to human health and the environment. The current methods for detecting these aquatic toxins, such as mouse bioassays, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), are limited by time-consuming procedures, high costs, and ethical problems. Therefore, there is an immediate need for the advancement of methods that are sensitive, specific, rapid, and affordable for detecting aquatic toxins. Electrochemical biosensors, particularly those incorporating nanomaterials and their composites, exhibit significant potential for enhancing sensitivity due to their large surface area, enhanced catalytic activity, superior electrical conductivity, chemical stability, tunable optical properties, and potential for functionalization. The integration of nanomaterials and their composites with aptamers further enhances the selectivity and specificity of these electrochemical aptasensors. Aptamers, single-stranded oligonucleotides with remarkable affinity and recognition capabilities, are highly valuable in designing nanomaterial-based electrochemical sensors. In comparison to antibodies, aptamers offer numerous benefits, including lower production costs, a smaller molecular weight, enhanced stability, lack of immunogenicity, rapid chemical synthesis, independence from animal sources for their production, ease of transportation, and storage. Therefore, the integration of electrochemical platforms with nanomaterials and aptamers is an effective tool for detecting aquatic toxins, thereby contributing to the protection of public and environmental health. This review focuses on the latest developments in electrochemical aptasensors based on nanomaterials for the detection of aquatic toxins, particularly microcystin-LR (MC-LR), saxitoxins (STX), microcystin-RR (MC-RR), okadaic acid (OA), and cylindrospermopsin (CYN). It explores their fundamental construction principles, methods of signal transduction, performance characteristics, and real-world sample applications of these electrochemical aptasensors in the detection of aquatic toxins. Furthermore, the review addresses existing challenges and outlines future research directions in this vital area of study.
水生毒素是由淡水和海洋生态系统中有害藻华（HABs）期间的甲藻、蓝细菌和硅藻产生的强效天然化合物。这些毒素可在扇贝、牡蛎、贻贝和某些鱼类等海鲜中积累，对人类健康和环境构成重大的全球威胁。目前检测这些水生毒素的方法，如小鼠生物测定法、液相色谱 - 串联质谱法（LC-MS/MS）和高效液相色谱法（HPLC），受到耗时的程序、高成本和伦理问题的限制。因此，迫切需要改进用于检测水生毒素的灵敏、特异、快速且经济实惠的方法。电化学生物传感器，特别是那些包含纳米材料及其复合材料的传感器，由于其大表面积、增强的催化活性、优异的导电性、化学稳定性、可调谐光学性质以及功能化潜力，在提高灵敏度方面具有显著潜力。纳米材料及其复合材料与适体的整合进一步提高了这些电化学适体传感器的选择性和特异性。适体是具有显著亲和力和识别能力的单链寡核苷酸，在设计基于纳米材料的电化学传感器方面具有很高的价值。与抗体相比，适体具有许多优点，包括生产成本较低、分子量较小、稳定性增强、缺乏免疫原性、化学合成快速、生产不依赖动物来源、易于运输和储存。因此，将电化学平台与纳米材料和适体整合是检测水生毒素的有效工具，从而有助于保护公众和环境健康。本综述重点关注基于纳米材料的电化学适体传感器在检测水生毒素，特别是微囊藻毒素 - LR（MC-LR）、石房蛤毒素（STX）、微囊藻毒素 - RR（MC-RR）、冈田酸（OA）和柱孢藻毒素（CYN）方面的最新进展。它探讨了这些电化学适体传感器在检测水生毒素中的基本构建原理、信号转导方法、性能特征以及实际样品应用。此外，该综述还讨论了现有挑战并概述了这一重要研究领域的未来研究方向。
