DNA-DAMAGE IN EXFOLIATED BUCCAL CELLS OF SMOKERS ASSESSED BY THE SINGLE-CELL GEL-ELECTROPHORESIS ASSAY

The alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis assay or comet assay is a sensitive and rapid method for DNA strand breaks and detection of alk ali labile sites at the single cell level, it further provides informa tion on the presence of damage among individual cells. In this paper w e explore the use of this technique utilizing exfoliated buccal mucosa cells from non-smokers (9 donors) and smokers (11 donors). The extent of DNA image length was found to be significantly increased in the sm oker group (89.30 +/- 16.18 mu m) than in the non-smoker group (52.01 +/- 10.43 mu m). Our results indicate that the single-cell gel electro phoresis assay could be applied to human monitoring using exfoliated b uccal epithelial cells.