Lateral flow assays based on aptamers for food safety applications

Food safety has become the focus of social attention with the rapid development of economic society and the improvement of living standards. Food detection plays an important role in food safety. In recent years, efficient and rapid detection technology is one of the conventional means of food safety screening, effectively preventing the occurrence of food safety events. Because of the advantages of short detection time, simple operation, high sensitivity, and economy, lateral flow assay (LFA) provides an ideal platform for on-site detection. The key to developing a lateral-flow biosensor is to identify biorecognition molecules, design strategies, and labels according to the target. Aptamers have comparable specificity and affinity to antibodies, making them a viable alternative. Nanoparticles can not only be used as labels for qualitative and quantitative detection, but also their rigidity can stabilize the spatial structure of aptamers, ensuring maintenance of their affinity and specificity in complex matrices. A review of the field finds that the application of nanoparticles is mainly focused on GNPs. Aptamer-based dipstick detection still lags behind antibody-based dipstick detection in actual field detection. It is conceivable that the application of aptamer and nanoparticle combination in LFA has both challenges and opportunities. In this paper, the above content is briefly introduced and reviewed in order to provide help for the development of LFA based on aptamer-functionalized nanoparticles.