BLOOD METHANOL CONCENTRATIONS DURING EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED ETHANOL INTOXICATION IN ALCOHOLICS

¹ National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Mental Health, 2700 Martin Luther King, Jr., S.E., Washington, D.C.

Accumulation of methanol in blood was detected in alcoholic subjects during a 10- to 15-day period of chronic alcohol intake. Blood methanol levels increased progressively from 0.2 to 2.7 mg/100 ml from the 1st to 11th day of drinking, when blood ethanol concentrations ranged between 150 and 450 mg/100 ml. Blood ethanol was eliminated at the rate of 272 ± 3 mg/100 ml/hr within 14 to 18 hours after cessation of drinking. Blood methanol levels decreased at the rate of 0.29 ± 0.04 mg/100 ml/hr only after blood ethanol levels decreased to 70 to 20 mg/100 ml. Blood methanol disappearance lagged behind the linear disappearance of ethanol by approximately six to eight hours and complete clearance of blood methanol required several days. The pattern of accumulation and clearance of methanol and ethanol was similar for subjects who consumed either beverage alcohol (bourbon) or methanol-free grain alcohol. Methanol probably accumulates in the blood as a result of competitive inhibition of alcohol dehydrogenase by ethanol and the presence of endogenously formed methanol or its metabolites may contribute to the severity of intoxication and/or the alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

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