Abstract
This chapter focuses on the biosynthesis of glucuronides and free glucuronic acid. Metabolic transformation of foreign compounds and of many endogenous substances in the animal organism consists of reduction, oxidation, hydrolysis, or conjugation with some other compound. The latter process takes place directly, provided that the compound to be conjugated possesses one or more functional groups such as hydroxyl-, carboxyl-, amino-, imino- or sulfhydryl groups, or it may follow after such groups have been formed by one of the other detoxication processes. Of the conjugation reactions, glucuronidation, as compared with sulfate, cysteine, glycine conjugation, methylation, and acetylation, appears to be the most important, particularly because glucuronic acid reacts with a great number of different compounds. The enzyme activities needed for the conjugation occur in many organs, primarily the liver, kidney, and intestines, and they normally have a strong glucuronidation capacity. The substrate for the conjugation, glucuronic acid as UDP-glucuronic acid (UDPGA), is easily generated from glucose via UDP-glucose (UDPG). The significance of glucuronic acid conjugation in the detoxication process is well-known, and glucuronidation was actually one of the first processes, in addition to glycine and sulfate conjugations, recognized to detoxicate foreign compounds within the body.
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