• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 1997

The single cell gel electrophoressis(SCGE) assay, also known as the comet assay, is a rapid, simple, visual and sensitive technique for measuring and analysing DNA breakage in mammalian cells. The SCGE or comet assay is a promising test for the detection of DNA damage and repair in individnal cells. It has widespread potential applications in DNA damage and repair studies, genotoxicity testing and biomonitoring. In this microgel electrophoresis technique, cells are embedded in agarose gel on microscope slides, iysed and electrophoresed under alkaline conditions. Cells with increased DNA damage display increased migration of DNA from the nucleus towards the anode. The length of DNA migration indicates the amount of DNA breakage in the cell. The comet assay is also capable of identifying apoptotic cells which contain highly fragmented DNA. Here we review the development of the SCGE assay, existing protocols for the detection and analysis of comets, the relevant underlying principles determining the behaviour of DNA and the potential applications of the technique.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.213-222
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• 2002

The alkaline comet assay has been used with increasing popularity to investigate the level of DNA damage in biomonitoring studies within the last decade in Western countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the alkaline comet assay as a biomarker of oxidative DNA damage for monitoring in the Korean population, and also to evaluate the effect of nutritional status and lifestyle factors on H2O2 induced oxidative DNA damage measured by the alkaline comet assay in human lymphocytes. The study population consisted of 61 healthy Korean male volunteers, aged 20-28. Epidemiological background data including dietary habits, smoking habits and anthropometrical measurements were collected through personal interviews. After blood collection, the comet assay in peripheral lymphocytes and plasma lipids analysis was carried out and the results analyzed. Tail moment (TM) and tail length (TL) of the comet assay were use\ulcorner to measure DNA damage in the lymphocytes of the subjects. Statistically significant (p < 0.05) positive correlations were observed between DNA damage (TM or TL) and smoking habits expressed as cigarettes smoked per day and pack years (r = 0.311 and 0.382 for TM, r = 0.294 and 0.350 for TL, respectively). There were also significant positive correlations between DNA damage parameter and waist-hip ratio. Higher plasma triglyceride levels were associated with increased damage to DNA. There were no correlations between the consumption frequencies of vegetables and DNA damage to the subjects. However, consumption frequencies of fruit and fruit juice intake were inversely associated with the TM and TL. The results indicate that die comet assay is a simple, rapid and sensitive method for detecting lymphocyte DNA damage induced by cigarette smoking. Consumption of fruit or fruit juices could potentiall modify the damaged DNA in the human peripheral lymphocytes of young Korean men.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.472-476
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• 2008

The possibility of DNA comet assay as a rapid method for screening the irradiated vegetables and grains was evaluated. Vegetables (spring onion, garlic, and tomato) irradiated at $0{\sim}3$ kGy and grains (rice flour and black soybean) irradiated at $0{\sim}9$ kGy were used as samples. Optimum DNA comet assay conditions, such as elution, sedimentation of suspension, and lysis time of cell, were established. The optimum conditions for vegetables were 10 min for the elution time, 0 min for the sedimentation time, and 5 min for the lysis time. The optimum conditions for grains were 15 min for the elution time, 60 min for the sedimentation time, and 30 min for the lysis time. For the food application of DNA comet assay, it was possible to screen various food samples irradiated at the following doses: spring onion at 2 kGy, garlic at 3 kGy, tomato at 1 kGy, rice flour at 9 kGy, and black soybean at 3 kGy. Each sample showed different forms and sizes in DNA comet. Therefore, further studies on various methods using comet shape, concentration, or area in DNA comet assay are necessary.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 1997.12a
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• pp.101-101
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• 1997

Comet assay, single cell gel electrophoresis has been known as useful, rapid, simple, visual, and sensitive technique for measuring the DNA breakage in mammalian ce1ls. For evaluation of DNA damage using comet assay, early studies reported a change in comet length and intensity with DNA damage using simple visual technique, such as fluorescence microscopy with eyespiece. In recent, some workers are observing and analyzing nucleotide of comets using quantitative fluorescence image analysis system to estimate 'tail moment', which is defined as the product of the tail length and the fraction of total DNA in tail. Our laboratory also adopted the image analysis software for qualification. In addition, many of the practical features of comet assay render it potentially attractive as useful tool for molecular toxicology and carcinogenesis, because the system is already showing considerable promise as rapid predictor in both in vitro and in vivo experimental designs. Recently, the comet assay becomes a attractive technique to study of apoptosis, because apoptotic fragmentation of nuclear DNA into nucleosomal sizes can be evaluated by the comet assay. So, we attempted to apply the comet assay to studying the effect of various stress on the apoptosis-sensitive cell lines. Particularly, focusing on the hyperthermic apoptosis, we could find that heat shock(44˚C for 60 minutes) was sufficient to induced apoptosis in these cell lines. But using the highly sensitive comet assay, we could not detect DNA breaks immediately after heat shock.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.843-848
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• 2000

The single cell-gel electrophoresis assay (comet assay) was used to identify irradiated beans. Soy beans, kidney beans, and red beans were irradiated with $^{60}Co$ gamma rays at 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 kGy. Beans were peeled out, crushed lightly, and treated with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) to extract cells. The extracted cell suspension was mixed with agarose gel solution and spread on an agarose precoated slide. After lysis of the cells, they were subjected to microgel electrophoresis for 2 minutes, and then silver-stained. We found that the DNA fragments of the irradiated samples were stretched, migrated out of the cells, and formed tails towards the anode giving the appearance of comets, while the unirradiated or the undamaged cells formed very short or no tails. The tail lengths of irradiated samples were significantly increased as irradiation dose increased at the above 0.3 kGy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.1025-1029
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• 2000

This study was conducted to investigate whether a DNA comet assay could be applied for identifying irradiated pork and beef. Pork and beef were irradiated with Co-60 gamma rays at 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 kGy, and stored in a freezer Cells separated from the samples were embedded in agarose gel on a slide, dissolved in a lysis solution, and electrophoresed at 2 V/cm for 2.0 min by horizontal electrophoesis. The cells were then stained with a silver staining in order to visualize the DNA using a micro-scope. The DNA fragments of the irradiated cells stretched or migrated out of the cells and formed tails towards the anode, giving the appearance of comets, while unirradiated cells formed very short or no tails. The distance of DNA migration increased with irradiation dose. Since the statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between tail length and irradiation dose, a DNA comet assay could provide not only identification but also estimation of the irradiation dose for irradiated beef and pork.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.423-429
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• 2006

Recent reports on the photocarcinogenicity and photogerotoxicity of many compounds led to an increasing awareness for the need of a standard approach to test for photogenotoxicity. The comet assay has been recently validated as a sensitive and specific test system for the quantification of DNA damage. Thus, the objectives of this study are to investigate the utility of photo-comet assay for detecting photo-mutagens, and to evaluate its ability to predict rodent photo-carcinogenicity. Photo-comet assays were performed using L5178Y $Tk^{+/-}$ mouse lymphoma cells on five test substances (8-methoxypsoralen, chlorpromazine, lomefloxacin, anthracene and retinoic acid) that demonstrated positive results in photocarcinogenicity tests. For the best discrimination between the test substance-mediated DNA damage and the undesirable DNA damage caused by direct UV absorption, a UV dose-response of the cells in the absence of the test substances was firstly fnalized. Out of 5 test substances, positive comet results were obtained for chlorpromazine, lomefloxacin, anthracene and retinoic acid while 8-methoxypsoralen found negative. An investigation into the predictive value of this photo-comet assay for determining the photocarcinogenicity showed that photo-comet assay has relatively high sensitivity. Therefore, the photo-comet assay with mammalian cells seems to be a good and sensitive predictor of the photocarcinogenic potential of new substances.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.158-162
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• 1996

Comet assay 는 포유류 세포에서 DNA의 파괴를 측정하는데 있어 신속하고 단순하며 시각적이고 민감한 방법이다. Apoptosis에서는 세포핵의 광범위한 DNA의 붕괴가 일어나므로 comet assay는 종양세포에서 apoptosis가 발생되었는가를 알아내는데 유용하다. 본 연구는 apoptosis 연구의 결과가 변화되지 않도록 comet assay slides를 좀 더 오래 보관할 수 있는 방법을 개발하고자 시행되었다. 개의 종양세포를 가지고 alkali comet assay를 끝낸 뒤 slides를 진공 건조기에서 꺼내서 증류수로 점적하여 10-20분간 침수시키고 현광현미경하에서 육안적으로 관찰하였다. 건조후 3-4일, 1주, 2주, 3주, 4주 및 7주의 slides에서 apoptosis 회복율(%)은 각각 98.1, 98.3, 99.4, 80.8 및 35.2%이었다. 3주 이내의 slides에서 대조군과 비교하여 apoptosis 회복율에서 차이가 없었으나 4주 이상의 slides를 건조후 침수시키는 방법을 이용하였을 때 apoptosis 평가에서 건조 후 3주간까지는 처음의 결과와 차이가 없으며, 이 방법을 이용하여 comet slide의 좀 더 긴 기간이 보관과 보관후의 재평가에서 이용될 수 있는 좋은 방법이 된다.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2011

The comet assay, also called single-cell electrophoresis (SCGE) assay, is a potential sensitive monitoring tool for DNA damage in cells. The primary objective of this study was to use comet assay to ascertain if the blood cells of flounder (Pleuronichthys olivaceus) and muscle cells of clam (Saxidomus purpurata) are suitable for genotoxicity screening. This was achieved by initially exposing blood and muscle cells under in vitro conditions to the reference genotoxin hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$); strong correlation between $H_2O_2$ concentration and comet values were found. Subsequently, the identification of DNA damage in isolated cells from flounder and clam was performed under in vivo exposure to benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and tributyltin (TBT). Flounder and clam were exposed to different concentrations (1, 10, 50, 100 ${\mu}g/L$) of BaP or TBT for 4 days. Regardless of treated chemicals, blood cells of flounder were more prone to DNA breakage compared to muscle cells of clam. In conclusion, in vivo genotoxicity of BaP and TBT can be biomonitored using the comet assay. This study suggests that flounder and clam do show potential as mediums for monitoring genotoxic damage by comet assay.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.346-351
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• 2003

Single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) was used to detect DNA single strand break in blood cells from several marine fish species. Three fish species were collected from Georgia coastal area. Mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus showed higher DNA damage than sea bass, Lateolabrax japonicus and trout, Oncorhynchus masou masou under the same experimental conditions. Mummichogs had more alkaline-labile sites on their DNA than other fish species. The comet assay with mummichog blood cells at pH 12.5 showed a dose-response curve with the increasing concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. While the isolated leucocytes showed no increase of DNA damage after in vitro exposure to 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (MNQ), erythrocytes showed dose-dependent DNA damage. These results indicate that the comet assay can be applied successfully as a bioassay using erythrocyte for environmental monitoring.