**4.4. Wound healing**

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 adhere to wounds [22].
