RESUMO
The comet assay can be used to assess genetic damage, but heterogeneity in the length of the tails is frequently observed. The aims of this study were to evaluate genetic damage and heterogeneity in the cervical nuclei and lymphocytes from patients with different levels of dysplasia and to determine the risk factors associated with the development of cervical cancer. The study included 97 females who presented with different levels of dysplasia. A comet assay was performed in peripheral blood lymphocytes and cervical epithelial cells. Significant genetic damage (P ≤ 0.05) was observed only in patients diagnosed with nuclei cervical from dysplasia III (NCDIII) and lymphocytes from dysplasia I (LDI). However, the standard deviations of the tail lengths in the cervical nuclei and lymphocytes from patients with dysplasia I were significantly different (P ≤ 0.0001) from the standard deviations of the tail lengths in the nuclei cervical and lymphocytes from patients with DII and DIII (NCDII, NCDIII and LDII, LDIII), indicating a high heterogeneity in tail length. Results suggest that genetic damage could be widely present but only manifested as increased tail length in certain cell populations. This heterogeneity could obscure the statistical significance of the genetic damage.