Methanol poisoning VI: role of folic acid in the production of methanol poisoning in the rat.

Abstract

Methanol poisoning is well known to occur in humans but does not develop in common laboratory animals such as the rat. Rodents display neither metabolic acidosis nor ocular toxicity after methanol treatment, findings that commonly result in humans and that have recently been described in the monkey. Since methanol administration in the monkey leads to marked accumulation of formic acid and metabolic acidosis, experiments were devised to reduce formate metabolism in the rat and thereby study whether methanol administration would lead to the accumulation of formic acid and acidosis in that species. Several methods were employed to induce a state of folate deficiency in the rat, a prerequisite to producing a decrease in formate oxidation to CO2 in that species. Rats placed on a folate‐deficient diet for 10–12 wk showed a marked decrease in formate oxidation and a marked sensitivity to methanol poisoning, as evidenced by high blood formate levels and marked decreases in blood pH. Treatment of rats with methotrexate was relatively ineffective in inducing decreases in formate oxidation, but in rats fed a folate‐deficient diet for 9 days and injected once daily for 9 days with 1 mg/kg methotrexate, a significant elevation of blood formate and decrease in blood pH was observed. In rats that were acidotic following methanol administration no accumulation of formaldehyde was observed. These results indicate that it is possible to sensitize the rat to methanol poisoning by reducing its capacity to oxidize formate. They also show that once the rat is susceptible to methanol poisoning, metabolic acidosis and formate accumulation occur without the accumulation of formaldehyde.