A review of fluorescent signal-based lateral flow immunochromatographic strips

Fluorescent signal-based lateral flow immunochromatographic strips (FLFICS) have received great expectations since they effectively improve detection sensitivity with quantitative analysis, and still retain the advantages of simplicity, rapidness, and portability of a common lateral flow immunochromatographic strip (LFICS). Diverse fluorescent reporters have promoted development of FLFICS, such as fluorescent dyes, quantum dots (QDs), an up-converting phosphor (UCP), lanthanide labels, and other fluorescence nanoparticles. In this work, we discuss the different fluorescent reporters applied with LFICS and their unique properties as well as signal amplification strategies helping to enhance detection performance. Benefitting from these sensitive and accurate fluorescent labels, FLFICS commendably satisfies requirements for detecting different disease biomarkers in medical diagnosis, strict supervision of food safety, and water pollution. This work also gives a short introduction to trends in the development of future FLFICS technology.