Approaches to bioresponse-linked instrumental analysis in water analysis

Abstract

A new concept based on hyphenation of biotests, for biological selection, and chemical analysis is introduced for water analysis. Biomolecular recognition components such as receptors, enzymes, and nucleic acids integrated in biological reaction chains are used for binding and selective enrichment of known and unknown biologically active substances in water samples; this is followed by identification and quantitation. The coupling of biomolecular recognition and binding to chemical analysis can be achieved either in discrete analytical steps, e.g. binding and elution of bioactive ligands from affinity columns followed by chemical analysis, or by methods capable of monitoring the binding of the ligand and simultaneous verification of its identity. This analytical strategy, denoted bioresponse-linked instrumental analysis (BLIA), enables detection of potential biological effects and identification of the analyte causing these effects. Several examples are presented.

Electrochemical Aptatoxisensor Responses on Nanocomposites Containing Electro-Deposited Silver Nanoparticles on Poly(Propyleneimine) Dendrimer for the Detection of Microcystin-LR in Freshwater

“…Alternatively, there is literature, albeit minimal, that has reported on the production of aptatoxisensors for MCs. They, however, have not been proven suitable for onsite freshwater toxins analysis [15,16,43] but have shown that aptatoxisensors can be used as sensing systems for MCs.…”

Bioassay-Directed Identification of Estrogen Residues in Urine by Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

“…Unfortunately, bioassay signals do not provide a clue for the chemical identity of the bioactive substance and consequently bioassay- or toxicity-directed concepts were developed in which mass spectrometric identification is combined with bioactivity screening. Particularly, in water analysis and drug discovery, experimental setups have been presented for off-line and on-line coupling of bioassays and MS. − Although very elegant, the main disadvantage of on-line continuous-flow approaches is, apart from their inherent limitation to affinity principles in solution, the incompatibility of organic solvents used in flow injection analysis and LC with bioaffinity detection, nonspecific binding of receptor molecules to reaction coil surfaces, and some additional band-broadening effects (LC). The solvent-incompatibility drawback can be partly compensated by postcolumn addition of solvent gradients, but at the cost of sensitivity and additional equipment.…”