Techniques to measure DNA single-strand breaks in cells: a review

Abstract

Alkaline sucrose sedimentation was for a number of years the standard procedure for the measurement of single-strand breaks. Some years ago a number of new techniques with improved sensitivity were introduced. The following techniques are presented and discussed: alkaline unwinding, alkaline filter elution, nucleoid sedimentation, viscoelastometry, microelectrophoresis of single cells, DNA precipitation, pulse field gel electrophoresis, fluctuation spectroscopy and nick translation.