Comparison of electrochemical immunosensors and aptasensors for detection of small organic molecules in environment, food safety, clinical and public security

Abstract

We review here the most frequently reported targets among the electrochemical immunosensors and aptasensors: antibiotics, bisphenol A, cocaine, ochratoxin A and estradiol. In each case, the immobilization procedures are described as well as the transduction schemes and the limits of detection. It is shown that limits of detections are generally two to three orders of magnitude lower for immunosensors than for aptasensors, due to the highest affinities of antibodies. No significant progresses have been made to improve these affinities, but transduction schemes were improved instead, which lead to a regular improvement of the limit of detections corresponding to ca. five orders of magnitude over these last 10 years. These progresses depend on the target, however.