APDE CAMPOALEGRE NAME: Ana Lucía Guerrero, Sofía Montoya
BI
SC: ETHANOL-ALCOHOL DATE: 7/8/2021
BIOLOGY, IV
SCORE: …………………………………………………………………………
Part I – The Lecture
It was about 50 minutes into another long,
boring two-hour lecture by Dr. Foster. The tall,
thin, gray-haired biochemistry professor was
concluding a chapter on enzymes. The final
topic was enzyme inhibition. Sarah, an
energetic and outgoing junior, was
daydreaming about her upcoming weekend at
home for a family reunion. She was not really
paying attention, but heard the professor going
on and on about alcohol dehydrogenase. At
last, Dr. Foster turned to the class and asked,
“Any questions?” Sarah, hoping to side-track
the professor, enthusiastically waved her hand.
As soon as she received a nod from Dr.
Foster, she began to recount a story that her
grandfather had told her.
“My grandfather said that when he was a
teenager, alcohols were used as antifreeze in
automobiles. A group of kids was hanging out
in a friend’s garage. One of them found two
bottles of liquid that were marked ‘alcohol.’ He
talked everyone else into trying the alcohol. All
of the kids became severely ill, but about half
of the teens died from poisoning. Someone
later found out that one of the bottles
contained methanol and the other a mixture of
ethanol and methanol. The kids who lived
drank the mixture. Grandpa figured since I was
a chemistry major, I’d know why half died and
half didn’t, but I didn’t know. Do you?”
Although Sarah had planned to side-track the
professor, her story played nicely into his
lesson plan. After all, the incident was related
to the current class topic of enzymes and
enzyme inhibition. The clever professor began,
“Let me remind all of you that the enzyme,
alcohol dehydrogenase, catalyzes the first
oxidation step in the case of both ethanol and
methanol.
1
https://www.paho.org/disasters/newsletter/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=203:methanol-poisoning-
emergency-in-nicaragua&catid=110&Itemid=157&lang=es
9 16
SECTION: B
Methanol Poisoning emergency in
Nicaragua 1
Forty-eight persons died and 15 were blinded by the toxic
effects of methanol in an incident of mass poisoning in
Nicaragua. Between 2-20 September, 801 people were
treated for methanol poisoning following the ingestion of
home-brewed local alcohol known as “guaro,” which had
been adulterated by methanol. Most cases occurred in the
departments of León and Chinandega.
The Network of Toxicology of Latin America and the
Caribbean (RETOXLAC) played a critical role by providing
information to Nicaragua’s Toxicology Reference Center on
case management, identifying a new antidote and making
a network member available for on-site technical
assistance. A U.S. drug company, Jazz Pharmaceuticals,
donated the antidote medicine—1,200 vials were delivered
to Nicaragua and put to immediate use. 
PAHO/WHO’s role included identifying experts to review
protocols for poisoned patients; coordinating the health
response and implementing contingency plans. It also
organized epidemiological surveillance at the local and
national level, and supported the Ministry of Health in
active case detection at the grass roots level by helping to
train 533 Nicaraguan health staff. PAHO/WHO also assisted
in the coordination and management of the donation and
importation of the antidote (Fomepizole) and the local
purchase of other essential drugs and supplies .
What is methanol?
Methanol is a clear, colorless liquid with a faint odor like
alcohol, making it impossible to detect when mixed in
alcohol.  
How much is too much?
Less than a teaspoon of methanol can cause blindness and
more than 4 teaspoons can be fatal. 
What are the effects of methanol?..........................
Drinking methanol causes the same effects as excessive
drinking, with the addition of pronounced vision problems. 
However, after the effects disappear, they reappear six to
30 hours later with much greater severity. The most
seriously poisoned lose consciousness and die of
respiratory or heart failure. Others may linger in a coma for
as long as a week and may be left blinded. 
1
Methanol is a very common solvent that is quite toxic. I recall an article from a few years ago that described the
largest mass methanol poisoning reported to date. It occurred in Nicaragua. Of the approximately 800
poisonings, about 45 patients died, and others suffered blindness (SEMP Biot #412, 2006). I seem to recall
that poisoned patients received either ethanol or a drug called Fomepizole as an antidote. I think I have some
homework that will help you to understand what happened in your grandfather’s story.”

1. What is alcohol dehydrogenase? Describe its properties.

It is an enzyme that helps break down alcohol inside the body, it's properties include catalyzing the first
oxidation step in the case of both ethanol and methanol. 
2. Compare the properties of methanol and ethanol
METHANOL ETHANOL
Methanol is extremely toxic. A little bit of Ethanol Ethanol is the intoxicating ingredient of many
may cause the same drunk effect as a lot of ethanol. alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, and distilled
spirits. 
Clear, colorless liquid with a faint odor like alcohol, Ethanol appears as a clear colorless liquid with a
making it impossible to detect when mixed in characteristic vinous odor and pungent taste. 
alcohol.       
Methanol contains one carbon in its structure.   Ethanol contains two carbons in its structure.  
   
3. Write the structure of the products for the oxidation of both methanol and ethanol. Name those products.
METHANOL ETHANOL

STRUCTUR
E

 
 
   
PRODUCTS  
STRUCTUR
E

 
 
 
Methanol + water   Ethanol + water  
PRODUCTS  
 
 
4. Discuss possible hypotheses for why some of the teenagers in the grandfather’s story died and the others
did not.

Some teenagers consumed methanol and the other a mixture of ethanol and methanol. The ones that
drank pure methanol died because of the toxicity of the substance. On the other hand, the others that
drank the mixture survived because of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. This helps break down alcohol
inside the body and catalyzes the first oxidation step in ethanol and methanol. 

2
5. In your own words explain the Michaelis-Menten equation, write the equation.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u2MkbsE_dw)

Vmax [S]
Vo= is the Michaelis – Menten equation
Km +[ S]
Menten equation is used for describing the rate of enzymatic reactions, by relating reaction rate to the
concentration of a substrate. It is an explanation of the velocity and gross mechanism of enzyme-catalyzed
reactions and it helps to estimate the enzyme kinetic parameters from reaction progress curves of substrates.

6. In your own words explain the Lineweaver-Burk plot and describe (in words or in a graph) how it works in
competitive and non-competitive inhibitor. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU8Z2o1QbG0 and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALU24yhKJZw)

The Lineweaver-Burk plot is the Michaelis-Menten equation converted into a linear equation. This equation
is used to graphic the enzyme kinetics in terms of Km and Vmax. Competitive inhibitors will increase Km,
but leave V max unchanged, meaning that if you increase the concentration of substrate, you'll overcome
the effects of the inhibitor as you approach the enzyme's unchanged V max. But the enzyme may not be as
effective at low substrate concentrations.  

COMPETITIVE INHIBITOR NON COMPETITIVE INHIBITOR

With a competitive inhibitor, the reaction can reach
its normal Vmax, but it takes a higher concentration
of substrate to get it there. Vmax is unchanged, but
the K is higher. More substrate needs to be added to
reach Vmax because the extra substrate makes the
substrate molecules abundant enough to steadily
beat the inhibitor molecules to the enzyme.
7. Compare and contrast competitive and noncompetitive inhibition.
COMPETITIVE INHIBITOR
In competitive inhibition, the inhibitor binds directly to In non-competitive inhibition, the inhibitor binds to a
the active site of the enzyme.
Competitive inhibition prevents the substrate from
binding to the enzyme and forming the enzyme-
substrate complex. In competitive inhibition it is
directly competing with the substrate.
Competitive inhibition can be overcome by
increasing the concentration of the substrate.
With a noncompetitive inhibitor, the reaction can
never reach its Vmax, regardless of how much
substrate we add. A part of the enzyme molecules
will always be lowered by the inhibitor, so the
effective concentration of enzyme (which determines
Vmax) is reduced. However, the reaction reaches
half of its new Vmax at the same substrate
concentration, so K is unchanged. The unchanged K,
reflects that the inhibitor doesn't affect binding of
enzyme to substrate, just lowers the concentration of
usable enzyme.
NON COMPETITIVE INHIBITOR
site on the enzyme that is NOT the active site, the
allosteric site.
Non-competitive inhibition alters the conformation of
the enzyme, meaning that the substrate can no
longer bind to the active site on the enzyme.
Competitive inhibition can NOT be overcome by
increasing the concentration of the substrate.

8. Discuss possible hypotheses (you need a cited reason) for the case that include the role of the enzyme
alcohol dehydrogenase. Choose your group’s best hypothesis, and define the independent and dependent
variables.

HYPHOTHESIS: Alcohol dehydrogenase which is toxic to the human body made formic acid by letting the
methanol be consumed along. When there was a mix of methanol and ethanol and it was consumed, there

3
 was a competition in which ethanol wanted to be the substrate for alcohol dehydrogenase that would help
keeping the person alive because it would reduce the toxic inside the body.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

Alcohol dehydrogenase Ethanol and methanol

Part II – An Experiment
Dr. Foster’s class carried out an experiment studying a system with the same type of enzyme inhibition as
observed in alcohols. They collected the following data.

9. State the possible hypotheses that you think Dr. Foster’s class is testing (you need a cited reason) for the
case that include the role of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. and define the independent and
dependent variables.

HYPHOTHESIS: I think that the hypotheses that is being tested is that activity of the enzyme is being
affected by the reaction of different types of alcohol. Because what they did in the experiment is measure
how the rate in which various amounts of methanol are inhibited by the same amount of ethanol.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

Rate of the reaction Substrate concentration

10. Using the data above, construct Lineweaver-Burk plots. 2 First, graph the inverse of the reaction velocity
(rate of reaction) data in column II versus the inverse of the methanol concentration in column I. Then, on
the same graph, plot the inverse of the reaction velocity (rate of reaction) data in column III versus the
inverse of the methanol concentration in column I.( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koecLoRB2UE)

2
Use the last page.
4
 RATE OF REACTION WITH AND WITHOUT ETHANOL PRESENCE
Rate of reaction Linear (Rate of reaction )
Rate of reaction with ethanol Linear (Rate of reaction with ethanol )

0.07

0.06
f(x) = 0.02 x + 0.02

0.05
Rate of reaction

0.04 f(x) = 0.01 x + 0.02

0.03

0.02

0.01

0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2

Methanol

5
 Methanol Rate of Rate of reaction in the 1 1 1
(mM) reaction presence of 5.0 µM Methanol Rate of reaction Rate of reaction∈the presence of
(mMmin-1) ethanol (mMmin-1) 5.0 µM ethanol
(mM ) (nMmin−1)
( nMmin−1 )
0.5 23.5 16.67 2 0.04255 0.59988

1.0 32.2 25.25 1 0.03106 0.039603

1.5 36.9 30.49 0.67 0.02710 0.032768

2.5 41.8 37.04 0.4 0.02392 0.026998

3.5 44.0 38.91 0.2857 0.02273 0.025700

11. Describe the conclusions that can be supported from the data. What type of inhibition is evident from the plot?

Based on the data we can conclude that when methanol is used as the substrate, the enzyme catalyzes exchange between the substrate to
product. We can infer that with the increase of the substrate concentration, the rate of the reaction will also increase because a fixed amount of
ethanol is being added, this may cause the decrease in the reaction velocity but it will not be able to stop the reaction by all means. On the other
hand, it is evident that enzymes are following competitive inhibition when ethanol is instituted.

12. Suggest ways that the conclusions might explain the case described in the grandfather’s story. What would be the substrate and what would be
the inhibitor?

The conclusions might help explain the why in the grandfather’s story because in the story the kids that drank methanol died because of the
oxidation that forms into formic acid by dehydrogenase which is exceedingly toxic inside the human body and could even cause death, while
methanol and ethanol mixed together have ethanol inhibiting methanol as a substrate that causes the poisoning to reduce. The substrate in this
case is the alcohol and the inhibitor would be alcohol dehydrogenase which were competing for the oxidation.

6
7
8