Barley β-glucan accelerates wound healing by favoring migration versus proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts.

β-Glucans are considered candidates for the medication in different human pathologies. In this work, we have purified β-glucan from a selected barley line and tested their effects in primary human dermal fibroblasts. Unexpectedly, we have observed that this compound promoted a short-transitory proliferation arrest at 24 h after its addition on the medium. We have determined that this transitory arrest was dependent on the cell-cycle regulator protein Retinoblastoma. Moreover, dermal fibroblasts increase their migration capacities at 24 h after barley β-glucan addition. Also, we have described that barley β-glucan strongly reduced the ability of fibroblasts to attach and to spread on cell plates. Our data indicates that barley β-glucan signal induces an early response in HDF cells favoring migration versus proliferation. This feature is consistent with our observation that the topical addition of our barley β-glucan in vivo accelerates the wound closure in mouse skin.