Biomaterial Database

Automated analysis of DNA damage in the high-throughput version of the comet assay. 2010

A Stang, and M Brendamour, and C Schunck, and I Witte

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, IBU, Postfach 2503, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany.

Recently a high-throughput version of the comet assay was developed using a special 96-well multichamber plate (MCP) [1]. In this version, the electrophoresis is performed directly on the MCP, which makes transferring of cells to microscope slides unnecessary. In order to facilitate the scoring procedure we adapted an automated slide-scanning system (Metafer MetaCyte with CometScan) to enable unattended analysis of comets on the MCP. The results of the system were compared with the data obtained with two interactive comet-assay analysis systems. For induction of DNA damage in human fibroblasts methylmethane sulfonate (MMS) or H2O2 was used. The three systems revealed similar, concentration-dependent results for all parameters tested: tail moment (tm), % DNA-in-tail and olive tail moment. Near the detection limit of 5-6% DNA-in-tail a significant difference with the untreated control was obtained by use of four parallel samples (p=0.01). With the newly developed automated analysis system, the evaluation of either 50 or 100 comets yielded similar standard errors for either treatment with MMS or H2O2, thus showing that the method is suitable to reveal the crucial low-dose effects with high precision. The results also show that the time needed for automated evaluation of comets on the MCP was reduced by a factor of 10 when compared with the time required for interactive evaluation. In summary, the high-throughput version of the comet assay combined with the automated evaluating system increased the output by a factor up to 180 compared with the standard method.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008741	Methyl Methanesulfonate	An alkylating agent in cancer therapy that may also act as a mutagen by interfering with and causing damage to DNA.	Methylmethane Sulfonate,Dimethylsulfonate,Mesilate, Methyl,Methyl Mesylate,Methyl Methylenesulfonate,Methylmesilate,Mesylate, Methyl,Methanesulfonate, Methyl,Methyl Mesilate
D002478	Cells, Cultured	Cells propagated in vitro in special media conducive to their growth. Cultured cells are used to study developmental, morphologic, metabolic, physiologic, and genetic processes, among others.	Cultured Cells,Cell, Cultured,Cultured Cell
D004249	DNA Damage	Injuries to DNA that introduce deviations from its normal, intact structure and which may, if left unrepaired, result in a MUTATION or a block of DNA REPLICATION. These deviations may be caused by physical or chemical agents and occur by natural or unnatural, introduced circumstances. They include the introduction of illegitimate bases during replication or by deamination or other modification of bases; the loss of a base from the DNA backbone leaving an abasic site; single-strand breaks; double strand breaks; and intrastrand (PYRIMIDINE DIMERS) or interstrand crosslinking. Damage can often be repaired (DNA REPAIR). If the damage is extensive, it can induce APOPTOSIS.	DNA Injury,DNA Lesion,DNA Lesions,Genotoxic Stress,Stress, Genotoxic,Injury, DNA,DNA Injuries
D005347	Fibroblasts	Connective tissue cells which secrete an extracellular matrix rich in collagen and other macromolecules.	Fibroblast
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D006861	Hydrogen Peroxide	A strong oxidizing agent used in aqueous solution as a ripening agent, bleach, and topical anti-infective. It is relatively unstable and solutions deteriorate over time unless stabilized by the addition of acetanilide or similar organic materials.	Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2),Hydroperoxide,Oxydol,Perhydrol,Superoxol,Peroxide, Hydrogen
D001330	Electronic Data Processing	Applications that store and process large quantities of data.	Automatic Data Processing,Bar Codes,Computer Data Processing,Data Processing, Automatic,Information Processing, Automatic,Optical Readers,Information Processing,Automatic Information Processing,Bar Code,Codes, Bar,Data Processing, Computer,Data Processing, Electronic,Optical Reader,Processing, Automatic Data,Processing, Automatic Information,Processing, Computer Data,Processing, Electronic Data,Processing, Information
D013997	Time Factors	Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.	Time Series,Factor, Time,Time Factor
D020552	Comet Assay	A genotoxicological technique for measuring DNA damage in an individual cell using single-cell gel electrophoresis. Cell DNA fragments assume a "comet with tail" formation on electrophoresis and are detected with an image analysis system. Alkaline assay conditions facilitate sensitive detection of single-strand damage.	Alkaline Comet Assay,Alkaline Single-Cell Gel Electrophoresis Assay,Electrophoresis, Gel, Single-Cell,Gel Electrophoresis, Single-Cell,Alkaline Comet Assays,Alkaline Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis Assay,Assay, Alkaline Comet,Assay, Comet,Assays, Alkaline Comet,Assays, Comet,Comet Assay, Alkaline,Comet Assays,Comet Assays, Alkaline,Electrophoreses, Single-Cell Gel,Electrophoresis, Single-Cell Gel,Gel Electrophoreses, Single-Cell,Gel Electrophoresis, Single Cell,Single-Cell Gel Electrophoreses,Single-Cell Gel Electrophoresis