Enzyme Inhibition Based Biosensors for Environmental Monitoring

Abstract

A review of methods based on enzyme inhibition in environmental monitoring is presented, which is mainly focussed on the detection of pollutants, such as pesticides, heavy metal ions and other toxic compounds. The sensing principles, design of the biosensor and an evaluation of biosensors structures (i.e. electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric and calorimetric) that have been developed for environmental monitoring are also emphasised. Finally, future prospects of the enzyme based biosensor are discussed, particularly in term of novel strategies required for application to the real samples. Keywords: enzyme inhibition based methods, biosensors, environmental monitoring, toxic compounds