presents the comet assay results for human
leukocytes exposed in vitro to different concentrations
of MMS for different exposure times at 37 ◦C. The
mean values for DNA IL, DI, and DF of the treated
human leukocytes were significantly greater from the
controls without MMS, except for the image length
values for the 2 × 10−5M concentration of MMS at
1–6 h, while at the highest MMS concentration (8 ×
10−5 M) there were no viable leukocytes for scoring
at 6 and 24 h. Comet analysis at different exposure
times clearly related increasing concentration to DNA
damage. The damage index of the 24 h control group
was significantly higher than that of the 1, 2 and 6 h
control groups and the damage frequency for the 24 h
control group significantly higher than that of the 2 h
and 6 h control groups and the 1 h control group hada significantly higher damage frequency as compared
to the 6 h control group. There was a general increase
in the DNA damage values with increased exposure
time (24 > 6 > 2 > 1 h) at all MMS concentrations
with the observed values being somewhat higher
than expected, statistically significant differences being
shown in