It depends on the work you are doing. I tested the antioxidant activity of seaweed antioxidants on hydrogen peroxide induced (H2O2) DNA damage using the Comet assay. In this scenario I had a control sample with no H2O2 or antioxidants. I then had a H2O2 only sample which served as the oxidant control. The remainder of my samples contained both the H2O2 and seaweed antioxidants. Your control cells should be undamaged and be a clean circle, whereas the H2O2 sample should be comet shaped due to DNA damage.
fine, i have to check double strand break as well as single strand break in different aged plant lets, for this case i am not getting what control i should use.
If you wanna see double and single strand break, I suppose you use the alkaline COMET assay. So you can expose cells 5min under the UV of your biological hood (around 10cm to the source), and you will have beautiful tail comet as positive control. It's easy to do (could be done in a tube), and free!
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