glucuronic acid

A carboxylic acid with structural similarity to glucose with detoxifying activity. The xenobiotic metabolism of various substances such as drugs, pollutants, bilirubin, androgens, estrogens, mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids, fatty acid derivatives, retinoids, and bile acids involves glucuronidation, a process in which water-soluble, excretable glucuronides of these substances are formed via glycosidic linkages to glucuronic acid. UDP-glucuronic acid, formed in the liver through the linkage of glucuronic acid to uridine diphosphate (UDP) via a glycosidic bond, is an intermediate in the process of glucuronidation.