Methanol poisoning in the folate-deficient rat

Abstract

THE recent attention given to methanol as a fuel has reawakened interest in its biological liability. Its toxicity is well known¹. Methanol poisoning is characterised in man by a latent period of 12–24 h followed by metabolic acidosis, ocular toxicity and death. This syndrome has been reported by Gilger and Potts² to occur in the rhesus monkey, but Cooper and Felig³ were unable to repeat this work. Recent studies have tended to confirm the results of Gilger and Potts. McMartin et al.⁴ and Clay et al.⁵ have shown the importance of formate generation and accumulation in the development of metabolic acidosis in the monkey, and our laboratory has been able to show ocular toxicity in the rhesus monkey⁶. On the other hand, formate does not accumulate in the rat⁴ and methanol poisoning as described for man does not occur in the rat or other small laboratory animals^1,2.