The elimination kinetics of methanol and the influence of ethanol.
Four male subjects aged between 20 and 29 years were given intravenous injections of methanol at a dosage of 10 mg per kg body weight, once without prior administration of ethanol, and once after oral ingestion of 0.3 g ethanol per kg body weight. The serum methanol concentration was monitored over the next 5 h (after methanol administration alone) and 6-7 h (after methanol administration following ethanol ingestion). The elimination of methanol administered alone was found to follow first-order kinetics with a rate constant for the elimination phase of 0.475-0.259 h-1, corresponding to an elimination half-life of 1.8-3.0 h. When ethanol was also administered methanol oxidation was found to be completely blocked until the blood ethanol concentration had fallen to 0.2 g/kg. When the ethanol concentration had dropped to zero, methanol elimination followed exactly the same course as that observed in the experiment without prior administration of ethanol (k: 0.378-0.231 h-1; t1/2: 1.5-2.7 h).
Haffner
H T
HT
Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Tübingen, Federal Republic of Germany.
Wehner
H D
HD
Scheytt
K D
KD
Besserer
K
K
D000328:Adult; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004347:Drug Interactions; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate / Q000187:drug effects*; D000432:Methanol / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
D000431:Ethanol; D000432:Methanol