Abstract

The peroxidative system involving catalase plays an important role in the oxidation of methanol in the rat, but is of little importance for this purpose in the monkey. Since there is abundant hepatic catalase in the monkey, the question arose why it does not function measurably in the peroxidative oxidation of methanol in this species. Two possibilities were investigated: (a) catalase may be distributed in the hepatic cell in such a way that it is not as accessible to peroxide-generating systems as it is in the rat, and (b) hepatic catalase from the monkey may be less active peroxidatively than that found in the rat. Evidence was presented to show that both these factors combine to explain, at least in part, the failure of the peroxidative system to function appreciably in the oxidation of methanol in the monkey. The mouse and the guinea pig resemble the rat in that they also utilize the peroxidative system for the oxidation of methanol. The rate of methanol oxidation in vivo was found to bear a direct relationship to the amount of particulate catalase in the livers of the rat, mouse, and guinea pig.