CASP is a tool to image analysis in comet assay. CASP has been developed to work with either color, or gray-scale images of fluorescence-stained comets saved in TIF format. In its present version CASP does not control a video or CCD camera. Comets stained with silver (dark cells on white background) must be converted into negative images in order to be analysed correctly. An unlimited number of images can be marked, CASP will load them successively into a "image view" window (see screenshot). Only comets oriented from left (head) to right (tail) can be analysed correctly. The user can adjust various thresholds of sensitivity and save the adjustments for future use. A measurement frame is drawn on the screen and its size adjusted. The adjustments are frozen to prevent accidental modification. The frame is moved onto a cell and measurement is activated. An intensity profile shows up on a "profile" window together with selected result values (right window on figure 1) and the result can be saved. In addition to such parameter as head radius, tail length etc, the program calculates the tail moment (TM) and the Olive tail moment (OTM). If several cells are present on the same picture, the user can proceed with the measurement of another cell on the same picture or can load a new picture. The saved results can be visualized during the working session in a spreadsheet in "view results" window. When measurements are terminated, the results can be exported into a text file and imported into a commercial spreadsheet calculation program. CASP is optimized for a 600x800 resolution.

It should work on various platforms like MS Windows and Unix like systems. FOX Toolkit developer reports that FOX library can be compiled on platforms listed here: Linux, FreeBSD, SGI IRIX, HP-UX, IBM AIX, SUN Solaris, DEC/Compaq Tru64 UNIX, Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows ME and Windows 2000. So it is possible that CASP will run on all these systems too.