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. or A form of a type of sugar called glucose that helps remove harmful substances from the body. Glucuronic acid and the harmful substance combine in the liver and then are passed in the urine. Glucuronic acid is also found in other substances in the body, such as cartilage and synovial fluid (fluid found in the joints).