A 23-year-old homeless man is found to have consumed alcohol adulterated with methanol. He is started on treatment effective for minimizing the toxicity to methanol. Which of the following is the most likely explanation for the benefit of this treatment?: (A) enhances renal excretion of methanol, (B) prevents biotransformation of methanol, (C) combines to form a nontoxic polymer, (D) changes the toxin's volume of distribution
Answer is B. Ethanol is the standard antidote for methanol. It inhibits the conversion of methanol to its toxic metabolite, formic acid, by alcohol dehydrogenase.