Mathematical modelling of methanol poisoning with impulsive dosing of antidote therapeutics to prevent toxicity

Abstract

The harmful use of methanol is a worldwide problem resulting in millions of deaths, including thousands of young lives lost. Although methanol itself may be harmless, it is oxidized to formaldehyde and, further, it breaks down to formic acid, which is lethal for humans with high concentration. The primary treatment of methanol poisoning is the administration of ethanol to slow down the formation of toxic metabolites by competitive substitution of the methanol due to its intrinsic binding affinity. Moreover, supportive role of administering sodium bicarbonate in the patient assists the neutralization of the metabolic acidosis in human for the accumulation of formic acid. In this research article, we formulate a mathematical model to study the effect of co-administration of ethanol and sodium bicarbonate to treat methanol toxicity. This treatment procedure may help the health workers to provide at least a basic emergency care to minimize the death toll in the remote and distant places. The experimental data were used to acquire the model generated time and dosing prediction through which patient is to be benefited in obtaining the normalcy within minimum therapy time. KEYWORDSalcohol dehydrogenase, aldehyde dehydrogenase, competitive inhibition, ethanol, impulsive differential equation, methanol, sodium bicarbonate, supportive therapy 9176