Abstract
The comet assay can distinguish small differences in DNA damage between different samples of cells, implying that statistical tests are important to assess whether this occurs by chance. Excellent scholarly papers with concise descriptions of statistical analysis and recommendations for tests have been published (Lovell et al., 1999; Lovell and Omori, 2008). We often come across publications that unfortunately have not taken advantage of statistical models in design and analysis of comet assay results. The present commentary is based on the notion that statistical analysis of comet assay data should not be complicated, but consideration of statistical analysis before carrying out the experiments typically makes it much easier to analyse the results.
Highlights
The comet assay can distinguish small differences in DNA damage between different samples of cells, implying that statistical tests are important to assess whether this occurs by chance
Edited by: Sabine Langie, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Belgium Amaya Azqueta, University of Navarra, Spain Reviewed by: Anoop Kumar Sharma, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
WHY DO WE PERFORM STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF COMET ASSAY RESULTS? Statistics are typically done to prove that the DNA damage levels are different between groups, we formally test for no difference between groups
Summary
The comet assay can distinguish small differences in DNA damage between different samples of cells, implying that statistical tests are important to assess whether this occurs by chance. We often come across publications that have not taken advantage of statistical models in design and analysis of comet assay results. WHY DO WE PERFORM STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF COMET ASSAY RESULTS?
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