Affinity-based biosensors in sport medicine and doping control analysis

Affinity-based biosensors (ABB) started to be considered also in sport medicine and doping control analysis because they are cheap, easy to use and sufficiently selective analytical devices, characterized by a reversible interaction with the analyte under investigation allowing the use of the same sensor for multiple analyses. In this review we describe the main categories of substances reported in the WADA Prohibited List and how affinity based biosensors may contribute to their detection. Although several ABB proposed in the last few years display limit of detections that are in principle matching the WADA requirements, their application in the framework of “traditional” antidoping tests seems quite unlikely, mainly because of the still insufficient selectivity especially in the case of “pseudo-endogenous” compound, and on the lack of complete information regarding potential matrix effects in real samples and following their routine use. At the same time, ABB could contribute to fill