The comet assay is a widely used test for the detection of DNA damage and repair activity. However, there are interlaboratory differences in reported levels of baseline and induced damage in the same experimental systems. These differences may be attributed to protocol differences, although it is difficult to identify the relevant conditions because detailed comet assay procedures are not always published. Here, we present a Consensus Statement for the Minimum Information for Reporting Comet Assay (MIRCA) providing recommendations for describing comet assay conditions and results. These recommendations differentiate between 'desirable' and 'essential' information: 'essential' information refers to the precise details that are necessary to assess the quality of the experimental work, whereas 'desirable' information relates to technical issues that might be encountered when repeating the experiments. Adherence to MIRCA recommendations should ensure that comet assay results can be easily interpreted and independently verified by other researchers.

Biomedical Center Medical Faculty in Pilsen Charles University Prague Prague Czech Republic

Centre for Environmental Sciences Hasselt University Hasselt Belgium

Department of Genetic Toxicology and Cancer Biology National Institute of Biology Ljubljana Slovenia

Department of Human Sciences and Quality of Life Promotion San Raffaele University Rome Italy

Department of Nanobiology Cancer Research Institute Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava Slovakia

Department of Neuroscience Psychology Pharmacology and Child Health Section Pharmacology and Toxicology University of Florence Florence Italy

Department of Nutrition University of Oslo Oslo Norway

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism Maastricht University Maastricht the Netherlands

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology University of Navarra Pamplona Spain

Department of Public Health Section of Environmental Health University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark

Department of Toxicology Faculty of Pharmacy Hacettepe University Ankara Turkey

Division of Human Nutrition Department of Food Environmental and Nutritional Sciences Università degli Studi di Milano Milan Italy

Environmental Health Department National Institute of Health Dr Ricardo Jorge Porto Portugal

Epidemiological Research Unit Instituto de Saúde Pública Universidade do Porto Porto Portugal

Food Chemistry and Toxicology Department of Chemistry University of Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern Germany

Health Effects Laboratory Department of Environmental Chemistry Norwegian Institute for Air Research Kjeller Norway

IdiSNA Navarra Institute for Health Research Pamplona Spain

Institute of Experimental Medicine Czech Academy of Sciences Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany

Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de A Coruña AE CICA INIBIC Coruña Spain

Laboratory of Translational Biomedicine University of Southern Santa Catarina UNESC Criciúma Brazil

Mutagenesis Unit Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health Zagreb Croatia

Oxidative Stress Group Department of Cell Biology Microbiology and Molecular Biology University of South Florida Tampa FL USA

Section of Molecular Toxicology Department of Environmental Health Norwegian Institute of Public Health Skøyen Oslo Norway

Toxalim Université de Toulouse INRAE ENVT INP Purpan UPS Toulouse France

Unit of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana Rome Italy

Universidade da Coruña Grupo DICOMOSA Centro de Investigaciones Científicas Avanzadas Departamento de Psicología Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación Coruña Spain

VITO HEALTH Mol Belgium

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