A SPECTROFLUOROMETRIC METHOD FOR DETECTION OF LOW METHANOL LEVELS IN PLASMA

Terken BAYDAR*, Gönül SAHIN*,o, Suna DURU*

*Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicolology 06100 Sihhiye, Ankara, TURKEY.
oCorresponding Author

Summary:
An easy, cheap and reliable spectroflurometric method has been developed by modifying the method described by Makar et al. (Biochem. Med. 13: 117-126, 1975) for formic acid, in order to detect and monitor especially low methanol levels in blood due to exposure to methanol through inhalation, dermal route and ingestion at low concencrations, or due to intake of some xenobiotics such as aspartame, which can form methanol after its biotransformation in the body, or due to consumption of large amounts of alcohol.
The calibration curve is linear between 0-1.5 mg/dl, (y=33.0 x + 1.58, r=0.996). The dedection limit is 0.1 mg/dL. The coefficients of variation at 1 mg/dL concentration are 4.27% ? 0.04 (mean ? SD) and 5.18% ? 0.07 (mean ? SD) for within-run and between-run precisions, respectively. For supplementation of 0.5 mg/dL and 1 mg/dLof methanol on six occasions, the average recovery values are 91.6 % ? 9.4 (mean ? SD) and 100.0 % ? 4.3 (mean ? SD), respectively.

Key words:
Spectrofluorometric detection, Methanol, Resazurin.