The comet assay is an extremely sensitive DNA damage assay. This sensitivity needs to be handled carefully as it is also vulnerable to physical changes which can affect the reproducibility of results. Essentially, anything that can cause DNA damage or denaturation except the factor(s) being researched is to be avoided. The most common form of the assay is the alkaline version although there is as yet no definitive alkaline assay protocol. Due to its simple and inexpensive setup, it can be used in conditions where more complex assays are not available.