3.4. Effect of DMF on oxidative DNA damage/comet assay
There was a non-significant difference in the appearance of the comet, which can be seen in the form of intact nuclei with supercoiled undamaged DNA without comet tail in Group II (DMF only) compared to that in Group I (control) Fig. 2A ; in addition, DMF alone produced non-statistically significant differences (P >0.05) in the DNA damage (% DNA in tail) compared to the control fig. 2B .
While acute exposure to DOX (Group III) showed damaged abnormal nuclei with DNA strand breaks in the form of comet tail emerging as a hollow area; moreover, there was a significant increase (P <0.0001) in % DNA in tail value in Group III compared to the control group fig 2B . However, the BM cells from the rats pretreated with DMF prior to DOX (Group IV)exhibited an improvement in the comet appearance; in addition, to a significant inhibition (P <0.0001) of DNA damage (i.e., a reduction in the value of the % DNA in tail) compared toGroup III .