How do antidotes to poisons work?

Question

How do antidotes to poisons work?

In: Biology

Answer 1

In video games it’s simple, but in real life, it depends on the poison. Some outcompete the poison in question, such as drinking alcohol as a treatment for methanol toxicity. Others work in the opposite direction of the poison, such as using physostigmine as a treatment for organophosphate toxicity. A couple actually directly target and neutralize poisons, such as injecting antibodies against rabies or snake venom.