The complex fingerprint of vancomycin using electrochemical methods and mass spectrometry

Electrochemical and optical (bio)sensors for analysis of antibiotic residuals

Antibiotic residuals in foods may lead to crucial health and safety issues in the human body. Rapid and in-time analysis of antibiotics using simple and sensitive techniques is in high demand. Among the most commonly applicable modalities, chromatography-based techniques like HPLC and LC-MS, along with immunological approaches, particularly ELISA have been exampled in the analysis of antibiotics. Despite being highly sensitive, these methods are considerably time-consuming, thus the presence of skilled personnel and costly equipment is essential. Nanomaterial-based (bio)sensors, however, are de novo analytical equipment with some beneficial characteristics, such as simplicity, low price, on-site, high accuracy, and sensitivity for the detection of analytes. This review aimed to collect the latest developments in NM-based sensors and biosensors for the observation of highly used antibiotics like Vancomycin (Van), Linezolid (Lin), and Clindamycin (Clin). The current challenges and developmental perspectives are also debated in detail for future research directions.

Graphene–Gold Nanostructures Hybrid Composites Screen-Printed Electrode for the Sensitive Electrochemical Detection of Vancomycin

The most important and well-known glycopeptide antibiotic, vancomycin (VAN), is used for the treatment of severe bacterial infections like methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections and endocarditis caused by enterococci and sepsis. Taking into account the problem of the development of antibiotic resistance as well as its toxicity, both correlated with the VAN concentration (CVAN) in biological samples, there is need for better and more accessible quantification methods for this antibiotic. Considering all of the above, herein, we present a simple electrochemical method for VAN sensing based on a hybrid graphene-gold nanostructure nanocomposite electrode, which allows double detection directly in the oxidation domain and also indirectly, in reduction, using the electro-active gold nanostructures as a probe to monitor the current changing due to the interaction between gold and VAN. The developed method was able to successfully detect VAN in the linear range of 1–100 µM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.29 µM for the direct approach and 0.5 µM for the indirect one. The selectivity of the method was tested in the presence of other antibiotics and drugs. This method was successfully applied for the detection of VAN from human serum samples.