Glucan-based biomaterials and their applications in the biomedical field

Glucan is a class of natural polysaccharide formed by multiple glucose units connected by glucoside bonds. In recent years, it has attracted much attention in the biomedical field because of its biodegradability, biocompatibility, bioactivity, and ease of chemical modification, among other properties. The development of various glucan-based biomaterials such as prodrugs, hydrogels, micelles, microspheres, and nanoparticles have great potential for applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound healing, etc. This review aims to summarize the isolation and modification methods used to develop glucan-based biomaterials and survey their diverse bioactivities and biomedical applications. Particularly focus will be devoted to consideration of how glucan-based systems can be used as novel drug-controlled release systems, wound dressings, tissue engineering scaffolds, immunomodulators, and biosensors. The direction of travel and likely future developments for glucan in the biomedical field is also discussed.