Comet assay as a sensitive technique in occupational health studies; A literature review

Article Info Background: Occupational health is a sensitive field in many countries where occupational exposure needs attention due to the lack of awareness. Several businesses, including leather, textile, iron, steel, and dyeing industries use a variety of mutagenic and genotoxic chemicals. Exposure to these chemicals may pose serious health risks, including genetic damage to workers. Comet assay is a technique that has been extensively used in assessing DNA damage in such workers. Materials and methods: The literature search was done using PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Some studies were found reporting the use of comet assay as a sensitive and useful technique in assessing genetic damage in occupationally exposed workers. These studies have been presented in this paper to emphasize the importance and propriety of comet assay in assessing the genetic impact of hazardous exposures. Result: Having gone through the available reports, the author of this paper found comet assay as a useful biotechnological technique in the field of occupational biomonitoring. This technique is a sensitive and cheap method for assessing genotoxicity. Conclusion: Comet assay can be used as a reliable technique to quantify the impact of genotoxicants in the form of DNA damage at a single-cell level. This assay can be considered as a sensitive parameter whenever health assessment studies are to be designed.