The rationale for using ethanol in methanol poisoning is that it:
High-Yield Explanation
Methanol produces toxic metabolites (formaldehyde and formic acid) that are responsible for blindness. This metabolism takes place with the help of alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase. Ethanol is also metabolized by the same enzymes to produce acetaldehyde and acetic acid. It competes with methanol for above enzymes and inhibits the generation of toxic formaldehyde and formic acid. Ethanol inhibits ligand gated ion channel on NMDA receptor