The design, development and application of electrochemical glutamate biosensors

• Fabrication methods and performance of electrochemical glutamate biosensors are compared.
• Two main categories have been identified based on oxidase and dehydrogenase enzymes.
• Immobilisation methods include adsorption, covalent bonding, cross-linking and entrapment.
• Applications demonstrating the simplicity of analysis in complex sample matrices are described.

The development of biosensors for the determination of glutamate has been of great research interest for the past 25 years due to its importance in biomedical and food studies. This review focusses on the various strategies used to fabricate glutamate biosensors as well as their performance characteristics. A brief comparison of the enzyme immobilisation method employed and the performance characteristics of a range of glutamate biosensors are described in tabular form and then described in detail throughout the review: some selected examples have been included to demonstrate the various applications of these biosensors to real samples.