Application

4-Methylumbelliferone sodium salt has been used:as a substrate to analyze the enzyme kinetics of its glucuronidation in the human liveras a standard to quantify the free 4-methylumbelliferone released as a result of enzyme-substrate actionin cell survival assay to inhibit hyaluronan (HA) production and to study its effect on chemoresistance in ovarian cancer

Biochem/physiol Actions

4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU) serves as a hyaluronan (HA) synthesis blocker. It exhibits anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrogenic, and antitumor properties. 4-MU is used to treat biliary spasms and might also be beneficial in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), inflammation, hepatocyte injury, and fibrotic response. 4-MU is known to be glucuronidated by most of the uridine 5ฺ-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) isoforms of the human liver. This makes it a potent probe substrate to examine the overall hepatic UGTs activity.

General description

4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU) is a coumarin derivative.