Ingestion of methanol can lead to irreversible visual impairment or blindness. Poisoning is caused by the products produced when methanol is broken down by alcohol dehydrogenase, which include formaldehyde.
Ethanol is also oxidised by alcohol dehydrogenase.
Which of the following statements explains why ethanol is often used as a treatment for methanol poisoning?
Ethanol acts as a competitive inhibitor and binds to the active site of alcohol dehydrogenase.
Ethanol acts as a non-competitive inhibitor and changes the tertiary structure of alcohol dehydrogenase.
Ethanol breaks methanol down into safe products.
The products of the breakdown of ethanol by alcohol dehydrogenase act as end-product inhibitors.