Advances in research on detection of biological toxins by mass spectrometry

Rapid and accurate detection and identification of specific biological toxins is vital for clinical diagnostics,public health safety,and biological warfare defense.The potential use of biological toxins as weapons of mass destruction has created an urgent need for a rapid and highly sensitive assay for their detection.Compared with the conventional detection technology such as immunoassay and PCR,the MS technology has the advantages of wide detection spectrum,simplicity,high speed and high sensitivity.With the development of MS technology,it will become a powerful tool for the detection of biological toxins.In this paper,the MS technology and sample preparation technology used in the field of detection of biological toxins and recent advances are summarized.