Surface nanoarchitectured metal–organic frameworks-based sensor for reduced glutathione sensing: a review

Reduced glutathione (GSH) is a major biomarker related to a variety of diseases including cancers, cardiovascular disease, liver damage, autism in children, and others. Although the human body can synthesize GSH, it falls well short of meeting the needs of all of the body's functions. Consuming GSH-containing meals may help in solving the problem of low GSH levels. As a result, the development of an effective probe for measuring GSH in foods, agricultural products, nutritional supplements, and other products is critical for food safety and disease diagnostic. This, in turn, leads to the creation of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as nanoporous sensors for sensing of GSH in complicated samples such as urine, human serum samples, various foods, and vegetables, etc. Unfortunately, widely utilized sensors have numerous drawbacks such as selectivity, sensitivity, detection speed, simplicity, and so on. As a result, there is a great demand for the upgrading of extremely sensitive, selective, fast, and robust biosensors for GSH measurement. Presently, the structural design of MOFs has piqued the interest of researchers for detection of GSH owing to its remarkable and adaptable qualities such as high sensitivity, excellent selectivity in clinical samples, food components, agriculture goods, nutritional supplements, and so on. The methods and tactics for measuring GSH utilizing MOFs-based sensors, such as fluorescent, colorimetric, electrochemical, and ratiometric sensors, are summarized. In addition, detail explanation regarding synthesis of MOFs, fabrication of DNA conjugated MOFs, and enzyme-functionalized MOFs for specific sensing of GSH has been explored. Development of novel strategies for selective sensing of GSH with respect to all categories has been summarized. Remarkably, the low detection limit for GSH in the M to nM range was demonstrated by surface nanoarchitectured MOFs-centered biosensors. Finally, current challenges and future prospects for advanced applications of MOFs-based biosensors are highlighted. Eventually, this review may aid both academic and industrial researchers in the rational development of MOFs-based biosensors for GSH sensing. Graphical abstract: Surface architectured MOFs mediated biosensor for reduced glutathione sensing. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]