The Potential Role of Photobiomodulation and Polysaccharide-Based Biomaterials in Wound Healing Applications

Photobiomodulation (PBM) is an emerging therapeutic approach that can offer various medical applications. In wound healing, PBM is applied to reduce pain and inflammation, to accelerate cell repair mechanisms, and to stimulate cell proliferation and the regeneration process. In recent years, polysaccharides are actively being considered for the preparation of wound dressing materials due to their good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and abundance. They are also non-toxic, safe, and inexpensive. Most of the polysaccharides contribute to the process of wound healing due to their significant bioactivities such as the ability to absorb enormous quantities of water or physiological solutions, the ability to provide a moist environment at the wound bed, hemostasis, leading to rapid granulation, and re-epithelialization, which make them suitable for wound healing applications. Additionally, some of the polysaccharide have potent antimicrobial activity against the growth of bacterial and fungal organisms in the wound site. Therefore, polysaccharide-based biomaterials have also been used for the treatment of human pathogen infected chronic wounds. Photobiomodulation and polysaccharide show versatile applications in wound healing, but there are few research reports explaining the possible combined use of these features. In this chapter we focus on the combined application of PBM, polysaccharide, and wound healing. Moreover, the chapter will briefly discuss the PBM mediated wound healing process, polysaccharide mediated wound healing, and the combination of PBM and polysaccharide in wound healing. Additionally, the chapter highlights recent research on the development of polysaccharide-based wound dressing biomaterials and the active involvement of these molecules in wound healing applications.