Comet Assay Kit (3-well slides)

Product details

Comet Assay Kit (3-well slides) ab238544 is a single cell gel electrophoresis assay (SCGE) for the evaluation of cellular DNA damage.

How the Comet assay works

In the Comet assay, cells are embedded in agarose and then lysed to remove membranes and proteins. Electrophoresis is performed : under alkaline conditions, fragmented DNA migrates toward the anode, forming a comet-like trail while intact DNA remains in the comet head. DNA is then stained and visualized under an epifluorescence microspcope.

Comet Assay protocol summary

- pipette Comet Agarose onto the Comet Slide to form a base layer

- combine cells with Comet Agarose at 37C

- pipette agarose/cell mixture onto the top of the base layer

- treat cells with lysis buffer and alkaline solution

- perform electrophoresis under alkaline or neutral conditions

- stain cells with DNA dye

How other researchers are using

Comet Assay Kit (3-well slides) has been used in variety of sample type including:
- Human malignant glioma cell lines 1
- Human lung cancer cell lineA549 and H460 2
- Human liver cancer cell lines HepG2, rhabdomyosarcoma and human normal lung fibroblast 3

References:
1 - Sauer B P et al. 2024; 2 - Kang D et at 2023; 3 - Cui B et al. 2023.

Related and recommended products

See our Comet Assay Slide (3-well) (ab238546) that can be used with Comet Assay Kit (3-well slides) ab238544 or with your own comet assay reagents.

The slides provided with this product are chemically treated with an adhesive surface that is designed to hold the agarose in place. They are single use only and cannot be re-used.

Any problems with the gel not adhering to the slide are usually due to incomplete coverage when applying the agarose-cell suspension to the slide.  The agarose must be spread out to cover the entire well and the slide must always remain horizontal.  Increasing the incubation time of the agarose top layer to 30 minutes at 4°C may further improve its adherence.

During electrophoresis, it is also important that the slide is maintained horizontally and that the buffer remains cold.

REACH authorisation
Abcam has not and does not intend to apply for the REACH Authorisation of customers' uses of products that contain European Authorisation list (Annex XIV) substances.
It is the responsibility of our customers to check the necessity of application of REACH Authorisation, and any other relevant authorisations, for their intended uses.