Nick End-Labelling, In Situ

Medical Condition:
Nick End-Labelling, In Situ

An in situ method for detecting areas of DNA which are nicked during apoptosis. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase is used to add labeled dUTP, in a template-independent manner, to the 3 prime OH ends of either single- or double-stranded DNA. The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase nick end labeling, or TUNEL, assay labels apoptosis on a single-cell level, making it more sensitive than agarose gel electrophoresis for analysis of DNA fragmentation.