Advances in enhancement-type signal tracers and analysis strategies driven Lateral flow immunoassay for guaranteeing the agri-food safety

Abstract

As a classical and continuously developing on-site sensor, Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) exhibits promising potential for advanced point-of-care testing (POCT). Especially given the significance of agri-food in human dietary structure and the ever-increasing agri-food safety concerns, improved analysis performance of LFIA is urgently required. Recently, flourishing enhancement-type signal tracers (STs) and brilliant enhancement-type analysis strategies have been actively pursued in the development of LFIA because these patterns endow immense feasibility in manufacturing target-oriented sensing platforms. To facilitate further advancements in this field, this review comprehensively examines the recent developments in enhancement-type STs (e.g., load-, green-, recognizable-, Janus-, and dyestuffs-type STs) and enhancement-type analysis strategies (e.g. immuno-network, in-situ growth, nanozymes, multi-signal readout, and software-assisted quantitative analytical strategies) that significantly improve precise analysis efficiency. Moreover, by conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the major advancements and aiming to identify future trends in LFIA-based sensor, the objective of this review is to provide recommendations for future research based on the challenges and opportunities of LFIA.

Keywords: Agri-food safety; Analysis strategy; Enhancement-type; Lateral flow immunoassay; Nanomaterials; Practicability; Sensitivity; Signal tracers.