Alkaline Comet Assay as a Predictor of DNA Damage in Medical Radiation Workers

Abstract The study was aimed to examine the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage level between medical and non-medical radiation workers using the comet assay method. The radiation-exposed group (29 subjects) and the control group (29 subjects) were chosen from the administration staff. The assessment of single-strand DNA damage hosted by peripheral blood lymphocyte was performed using the alkaline comet assay, the tail length and long-tailed DNA were measured to detect the DNA damage. An independent sample t-test was used to assess the statistical difference between groups. The results showed that comet tail length mean measured in the exposed worker’s group was 25.57±4.4 μm whereas the mean percentage of long-tailed DNA was 6.97±1.53. In the control group, the mean tail length was 23.15±7.57 μm and the long-tailed nucleus percentage was 5.65±1.99. Mean values for the tail length measured were no significantly higher in the exposed group compared to the control group (P=0.15), whereas the percentage of long-tailed nuclei was significantly higher in the exposed group compared to the control group (P=0.007) . The observed single-strand DNA can be measured by using the alkaline comet assay. The DNA damage can be influenced by radiation exposure in medical radiation workers.