Statistical analysis of comet assay results

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.