Methanol poisoning is generally difficult to recognize, because in the initial phase of intoxication no specific symptoms are evident and there is only mild drunkenness. Dramatic changes in the body occur during the transformation of methanol into formic acid, which typically takes place between 6 and 24 hours after consuming the contaminated alcohol. If a patient arrives in hospital in the later stages of poisoning, levels of methanol in the blood are already very low. By this point the greater part of the methanol has already been converted to formic acid. “Formic acid is the final product when methanol is broken down and our method can tell within 1-2 minutes whether there are higher levels of formic acid in the blood than there should be, and thus whether treatment is needed,” says the main author, Petr Kubáň a member of the Bioanalytical Instrumentation research group of CEITEC, explaining this unique discovery.
Formic Acid as an Indicator of Poisoning
Rapidly determining levels of formic acid in serum is more important than determining methanol levels when it comes to deciding to initiate treatment. The advantages of the new capillary electrophoresis method are simplicity, small sample size (a few microlitres of diluted blood serum is sufficient) and rapidity. Compared to current methods, such as gas chromatography (only available in selected toxicological laboratories) this eliminates the transport, derivatization and pre-treatment of blood samples, which inevitably leads to significant delays. With the help of the developed methods it is also possible to monitor effectively the reduction in serum levels of formic acid, which allows optimisation of the length of haemodialysis treatment necessary for the removal of toxic metabolites from the organism. “Every hour for which the afflicted person is exposed to dangerously high levels of formic acid increases the risk of serious damage to the organism and permanent consequences. Starting the correct treatment in time, and determining its duration on the basis of monitoring levels of both methanol and formic acid, appears to be the ideal approach,” adds Robert Bocek, senior consultant at Havířov Hospital’s Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation Department.
Czech Scientists – Co-authors of New Methods
Brno scientists from the Bioanalytical Instrumentation research group of CEITEC, under the leadership of František Foret, cooperated in the research with colleagues from Havířov Hospital from the first cases in the ‘methanol affair’ in September 2012. Under CEITEC scientists will continue in the development of a simple portable capillary electrophoresis device and its validation for use in clinical practice.
