Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17406208›Full record

ArticleNature protocols2006

The comet assay: a method to measure DNA damage in individual cells.

Peggy L Olive, Judit P Banáth

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature protocols, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 757 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
757citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
11.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

757 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 1,787 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Epigenetic silencingCancer biology & therapy · 2026
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  14. TRIM21 inhibition alleviates acute kidney injury by promoting INTS3-associated DNA damage repair.Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2026
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697 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Peggy L OliveBritish Columbia Cancer Research Center, 675 W. 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L3, Canada. polive@bccrc.ca
Judit P Banáth
BC Cancer Agency · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We present a procedure for the comet assay, a gel electrophoresis-based method that can be used to measure DNA damage in individual eukaryotic cells. It is versatile, relatively simple to perform and sensitive. Although most investigations make use of its ability to measure DNA single-strand breaks, modifications to the method allow detection of DNA double-strand breaks, cross-links, base damage and apoptotic nuclei. The limit of sensitivity is approximately 50 strand breaks per diploid mammalian cell. DNA damage and its repair in single-cell suspensions prepared from yeast, protozoa, plants, invertebrates and mammals can also be studied using this assay. Originally developed to measure variation in DNA damage and repair capacity within a population of mammalian cells, applications of the comet assay now range from human and sentinel animal biomonitoring (e.g., DNA damage in earthworms crawling through toxic waste sites) to measurement of DNA damage in specific genomic sequences. This protocol can be completed in fewer than 24 h.

Indexed as

DNA DamageApoptosisCell NucleusComet AssayDNA Breaks, Double-StrandedDNA RepairEukaryotic Cells

Identifiers

PMID17406208
OpenAlexW2004326614

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.