Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis in DNA Damage Detection (Comet Assay)

“Single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE)”, also called “Comet Assay”, is a sensitive, reliable and rapid technique for quantifying and analyzing DNA damage in individual cells. The comet assay is widely used in living cells, researches and the applications on comet assay is becoming broader day by day. To date, the comet assay has been used for a variety of applications, including genotoxic and cytotoxic agent analyses, environmental toxicology, cancer research, and radiation biology. Briefly, in comet assay, fully frosted microscope slides were first covered with 0.5% normal melting point agarose (NMA) and air-dried at the room temperature then cells were mixed with 0.5% low melting point agarose (LMA) at 37oC to form a cell suspension which was spread onto the slide surface and let it solidified. A third layer of 0.5% low melting point agarose was then added and again allowed to solidify. After preparing the three layer agarose the slides were immersed in lysing solution at least for an hour. The slides were then placed in an electrophoresis tank which contained neutral or alkaline buffer solution and kept in there for a short while prior to electric field application. After electrophoresis, the slides were washed with neutralization solution or PBS and stained with a DNA-specific fluorescent dye and analyzed using a fluorescent microscope. [Archives Medical Review Journal 2010; 19(4.000): 236-