Antifreeze ingestion

The most widely known aleohol is ethyl aleohol, simply beeause it is the aleohol in aleoholie drinks. It is also known as grain aleohol, or by its proper name, ethanol. Ethyl aleohol is a eolorless, volatile liquid with a eharaeteristie odor and a pungent taste. It has a flash point of 55°F, is classified as a depressant drug, and is toxic when ingested in large quantities. Its molecular formula is CjHjOH. In addition to its presence in alcoholic beverages, ethyl alcohol has many industrial and medical uses, such as a solvent in many manufacturing processes, as antifreeze, antiseptics, and cosmetics. 

Whenever a hydrocarbon backbone has two hydroxyl radicals attached to it, it becomes a special type of alcohol known as a glycol. The simplest of the glycols, and the most important, is ethylene glycol, whose molecular formula C2H4(OH)2. The molecular formula can also be written CHjOHCHjOH and may be printed as such on some labels. Ethylene glycol is a colorless, thick liquid with a sweet taste, is toxic by ingestion and by inhalation, and among its many uses is a permanent antifreeze and coolant for automobiles. It is a combustible liquid with a flash point of 240"F. 

It is used in deer repellant, nail polish (to discourage nail-biting), paint, antifreeze, and windshield washing fluid (to prevent accidental ingestion), and to coat electrical cables (to prevent rats or other vermin from eating the insulation). Very dilute solutions are sometimes used to coat childrens thumbs to prevent thumb sucking. 

This substance is a liquid used in antifreeze, paints, polishes, and cosmetics. As it has a sweet taste and is readily available it has been used as a poor man s alcohol, but it may also be ingested accidentally and for suicidal purposes. Diethylene glycol was once used as a vehicle for the drug sulfanilamide, and when used for this, it caused some 76 deaths. 

Methanol is widely used as a solvent and as a denaturing agent for ethanol and is also found in antifreeze. Mass poisonings have occurred because of ingestion in alcoholic drinks made with contaminated ethanol as well as from accidental exposure. Inhalation and skin absorption may cause toxicity. In humans, about 10 mL can cause blindness and 30 mL is potentially fatal, but there is variation in the lethal dose. 

Ethylene glycol and methanol may both be used in antifreeze and are therefore sometimes accidentally or intentionally ingested together. What would be the... 

TA medical therapy based on competition at the active site is used to treat patients who have ingested methanol, a solvent found in gas-line antifreeze. The liver enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase converts methanol to formaldehyde, which is damaging to many tissues. Blindness is a common result of methanol ingestion, because... 

Polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol (CH2OHCH2OH) are used as heat exchangers, in antifreeze formulations, and as industrial solvents. Young children and animals are sometimes attracted by the sweet taste of ethylene glycol and, rarely, it is ingested intentionally as an ethanol substitute or in attempted suicide. While ethylene glycol itself is relatively harmless and eliminated by the kidney, it is metabolized to toxic aldehydes and oxalate. 

Alcohols occur widely in nature. Methanol is also known as wood alcohol because it can be obtained by distilling wood in the absence of air. It is very poisonous and can cause blindness or death if ingested. Ethanol is consumed in alcoholic beverages. Other simple alcohols, such as 2-phenylethanol from roses and menthol from peppermint, are constituents of natural flavors and fragrances. Alcohols are important intermediates in chemical synthesis. They are also commonly used as solvents for various chemical processes. Ethylene glycol is used in antifreeze and in the preparation of polymers such as Dacron. 

In 4 fatalities due to drinking varying amounts of antifreeze mixture, the volumes of ethylene glycol ingested and the postmortem blood concentrations were as follows 150 ml, 80 pg/ml after 36 hours 300 ml, 560 pg/ml after 18 hours 500 ml, 600pg/ml after 24 hours 1500 ml, 4100pg/ml after 28 hours (E. W. Walton, Medicine, Sci. Law, 1978,18, 231-237). 

A 51-year-old man ingested 600 ml of antifreeze solution but recovered after treatment. A blood concentration of 6500 pg/ml of ethylene glycol was reported 2 hours after ingestion pharmacokinetic studies indicated that the volume of distribution of ethylene glycol was about 0.8 litre/kg and the plasma half-life was about 3 hours (C. D. Peterson et al.. New Engl. J. Med., 1981, 304, 21-23). 

A 36-year-old man was admitted to hospital 6 hours after ingesting 500 ml of an antifreeze mixture containing ethylene glycol and methanol initial serum concentrations were 1900 ig/ml for ethylene glycol and 1130pg/ ml for methanol the subject recovered after treatment with ethanol and haemodialysis (N. P. Vites et al.. Lancet, 1984,1, 562). 

Few people ingest toxic amounts of oxalic acid directly. However, if a child or pet swallows antifreeze (which typically contains ethylene glycol and has a sweet taste), enzymes in the body will metabolize the ethylene glycol to oxalic acid, which is the reason antifreeze is toxic. 

Exposure to oxalates may occur through consumption of certain plants and foods in which they are naturally present (see above). Exposure may also occur through contact with, or inhalation of, commercial products (e.g., bleaches, cleaners) or as a result of accidental ingestion or contact with some commercial antifreeze products that contain ethylene glycol, which is metabolized in vivo to oxalates. 

Methanol is used as a solvent in a number of commercial products, as a constituent of antifreeze and window cleaning fluids, and as a component of canned fuel. It may be consumed by alcoholics intentionally as an ethanol substitute or accidentally when present as a contaminant in illegal whiskey. Accidental ingestions have occurred in children. 

Ethylene glycol, present in antifreeze products, may be ingested accidentally or for the purpose of inebriation or suicide. Ethylene glycol itself is relatively nontoxic, and its initial CNS effects resemble those of ethanol. However, metabolism of ethylene glycol by ADH results in the formation of a number of acid metabolites, including oxalic acid and glycolic acid (Figure 34-16). 

Ethylene glycol has a characteristically sweet smell that makes it irresistible to animals. The bright green or red fluorescein dye is added to warn humans and animals of the inherent danger associated with the ingestion of antifreeze. If antifreeze is swallowed, it causes central nervous system depression followed by respiratory and cardiac distress. If untreated, ingestion leads to cardiac failure, renal failure, and brain damage. 

Ethylene glycol, which is widely used as an antifreeze for automobile radiators, upon ingestion causes depression of the CNS, metabolic acidosis, and severe renal damage. Its oxidation in the body requires the action of alcohol dehydrogenase ... 

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