National Cancer Institute (source definition)
Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis
A rapid, simple, visual and sensitive technique for measuring DNA breakage in individual mammalian cells in response to a test agent. A cell is immobilized in agarose and made permeable and the broken DNA migrates out under the influence of the electric field. A damaged cell has the appearance of a comet with a brightly fluorescent cell body and a tail whose length and fluorescence intensity are related to the number of DNA-strand breaks induced by the test agent.
Review and references
Automated source check (NCI definition)
2026-10-20
2026-10-20
professional use
What it is
A rapid, simple, visual and sensitive technique for measuring DNA breakage in individual mammalian cells in response to a test agent. A cell is immobilized in agarose and made permeable and the broken DNA migrates out under the influence of the electric field. A damaged cell has the appearance of a comet with a brightly fluorescent cell body and a tail whose length and fluorescence intensity are related to the number of DNA-strand breaks induced by the test agent.
Source: National Cancer Institute, NCI Thesaurus 26.09d, C96515. NCI definition, reproduced without modification under CC BY 4.0.
Source identity and definition checked automatically on 2026-10-20. No individual clinical interpretation or human reviewer is asserted.
Compliance note
Reference intervals and interpretation depend on the laboratory, specimen, method and clinical context. This source definition is educational information; it does not establish a diagnosis, product approval or suitability for an individual.