**Author details**

566 The Complex World of Polysaccharides

**4.4. Wound healing** 

adhere to wounds [22].

therapeutic devices against current challenges.

**5. Conclusion** 

1,3-β-glucans have also been used in aquatic animals as exemplified by the use of schizophyllan with 60-80% survival rate and lentinan and scleroglucan with 55-75% survival rate when tested against *Edwardsiella tarda* bacteria attack on *Cyrinus carpio L.* carp. The survival rate was also increased when infected with *Aeromonas hydrophila* with survival of 60% with schizophyllan, 70% with lentinan and 80% with scleroglucan administration. In the absence of glucans, the carp underwent complete mortality upon any infection [76]. These results have been repeatable when tilapia and grass carp is exposed to *Aeromonas hydrophila* [77]. As more studies are conducted on the use of 1,3-β-glucans, the quality of veterinary health care can be improved

In addition to bacterial and fungal resistance, 1,3-β-glucans have also demonstrated promising results against malaria [78], herpes simplex virus [79] and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) [80-82]. Expanding on HIV research, various complexes have been synthesized with curdlan sulfate in order to enhance the efficacy of the polysaccharide. Some prominent examples include covalent conjugation of azidothymidine to curdlan sulfate for drug delivery to the lymph nodes and bone marrow [83] and conjugation of

1,3-β-glucans can have an impact on wound healing by recruiting macrophages to the wound site [85] and by increasing collagen deposition [24]. Beta glucan collagen matrix wound dressings have been used in children suffering from partial thickness burns and the dressings were able to simplify wound care by reducing analgesic requirements, improving cosmetic results and eliminating the need for repetitive dressing changes [86]. Other composites of β-glucan have been created with poly(vinyl alcohol) [23] and chitosan [22]. Poly(vinyl alcohol)/β-glucan composite was able to speed up the wound healing process when tested using rat models and hence decreased the healing time by 48% as compared to cotton gauze [23]. When using a composite of β-glucan and chitosan, a transparent dressing was obtained, which showed better results compared to commercially available chitosan based Beschitin® W. The synthesized chitosan composite did not dissolve during application period and was easy to remove because it did not

An assortment of 1,3-β-glucans have been explored for their structural and pharmacological capabilities. The ability of 1,3-β-glucans to form helical structures and gels has been advantageous for forming complexes with small molecules and macromolecules. The immunomodulatory effects of 1,3-β-glucans have served to fight cancer and infections and to promote wound healing. Research is moving towards combining the ability of 1,3-βglucans to encapsulate bioactive agents with their own bioactivity for creating potent

further and these results can eventually be transferred to human applications.

fullerene C60 with curdlan for combining their anti-HIV effects [84].

Mohit S. Verma and Frank X. Gu\* *Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada* 
