A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia; and N. I. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia.
Physiol Rev. 2015 Apr;95(2):603-44. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00034.2014.
Methanol has been historically considered an exogenous product that leads only to pathological changes in the human body when consumed. However, in normal, healthy individuals, methanol and its short-lived oxidized product, formaldehyde, are naturally occurring compounds whose functions and origins have received limited attention. There are several sources of human physiological methanol. Fruits, vegetables, and alcoholic beverages are likely the main sources of exogenous methanol in the healthy human body. Metabolic methanol may occur as a result of fermentation by gut bacteria and metabolic processes involving S-adenosyl methionine. Regardless of its source, low levels of methanol in the body are maintained by physiological and metabolic clearance mechanisms. Although human blood contains small amounts of methanol and formaldehyde, the content of these molecules increases sharply after receiving even methanol-free ethanol, indicating an endogenous source of the metabolic methanol present at low levels in the blood regulated by a cluster of genes. Recent studies of the pathogenesis of neurological disorders indicate metabolic formaldehyde as a putative causative agent. The detection of increased formaldehyde content in the blood of both neurological patients and the elderly indicates the important role of genetic and biochemical mechanisms of maintaining low levels of methanol and formaldehyde.
甲醇在历史上一直被认为是一种外源性物质，只有在被人体摄入时才会导致病理性变化。然而，在正常健康的个体中，甲醇及其短暂氧化产物甲醛是天然存在的化合物，其功能和来源受到的关注有限。人体有几种甲醇的生理来源。水果、蔬菜和酒精饮料可能是健康人体中外源甲醇的主要来源。代谢甲醇可能是由于肠道细菌发酵和涉及 S-腺苷甲硫氨酸的代谢过程产生的。无论其来源如何，体内低水平的甲醇通过生理和代谢清除机制维持。尽管人体血液中含有少量的甲醇和甲醛，但即使摄入不含甲醇的乙醇后，这些分子的含量也会急剧增加，这表明血液中低水平存在的代谢甲醇来源于受一组基因调控的内源性物质。最近对神经紊乱发病机制的研究表明，代谢性甲醛是一种潜在的致病物质。神经疾病患者和老年人血液中甲醛含量的增加表明，维持甲醇和甲醛低水平的遗传和生化机制起着重要作用。
