Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
methanol	5incere	09/14/06
explanation of why treating methanol poisoning with ethanol lowers the death rate.
Answered By		Answered On
matrix		09/18/06
Ethanol is a competitive substrate of alcohol dehydrogenase and thus prevents the metabolism of methanol. Methanol is slowly converted to formaldehyde (by alcohol dehydrogenase) and then to formic acid in the liver.The formaldehyde is converted to formic acid by aldehyde dehydrogenase.Formic acid causes the metabolic acidosis and central nervous system damage seen in methanol poisoning.By giving ethanol by IV the metabolism of methanol is slowed.

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