The biological activities of (1,3)-(1,6)-β-D-glucan and porous electrospun PLGA membranes containing β-glucan in human dermal fibroblasts and adipose tissue-derived stem cells

In this study, we investigated the possible roles of (1,3)-(1,6)-β-D- glucan (β-glucan) and porous electrospun poly-lactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) membranes containing β-glucan for skin wound healing, especially their effect on adult human dermal fibroblast (aHDF) and adipose tissue-derived stem cell (ADSC) activation, proliferation, migration, collagen gel contraction and biological safety tests of the prepared membrane. This study demonstrated that β-glucan and porous PLGA membranes containing β-glucan have enhanced the cellular responses, proliferation and migration, of aHDFs and ADSCs and the result of a collagen gel contraction assay also revealed that collagen gels contract strongly after 4 h post-gelation incubation with β-glucan. Furthermore, we confirmed that porous PLGA membranes containing β-glucan are biologically safe for wound healing study. These results indicate that the porous PLGA membranes containing β-glucan interacted favorably with the membrane and the topical administration of β-glucan was useful in promoting wound healing. Therefore, our study suggests that β-glucan and porous PLGA membranes containing β-glucan may be useful as a material for enhancing wound healing.