Polysaccharide-based microspheres of chitosan, starch, and alginate were prepared by the water-in-oil emulsion solvent diffusion method for use as drug carriers. Blue dextran was used as a water-soluble biomacromolecular drug model. Scanning electron microscopy showed sizes of the resultant microspheres that were approximately 100？ m or less. They were spherical in shape with a rough surface and good dispersibility. Microsphere matrices were shown as a sponge. Drug loading efficiencies of all the microspheres were higher than 80%, which suggested that this method has potential to prepare polysaccharide-based microspheres containing a biomacromolecular drug model for drug delivery applications. 1. Introduction During the past few decades, research interest in biodegradable polymeric microspheres has increased steadily as their potential in a wide range of biomedical applications has been realized [1]. Research related to encapsulation of water-soluble biomacromolecular active agents with hydrophilic polymeric microspheres for drug delivery has been widely investigated. The specific requirements, such as swelling and dissolution, of these hydrophilic microspheres can be tailored by the polymer blending and cross-linking methods [2, 3]. Polysaccharides are common and cheap biopolymers that have been widely investigated as a microsphere matrix to carry water-soluble model drugs. Polysaccharide-based microspheres of chitosan [4–12], starch [13], and alginate [2, 14, 15] have been used as biodegradable matrices for controlled release drug delivery. Several methods have been reported for preparing the polysaccharide-based microspheres, such as spray-drying, emulsification-precipitation, and emulsification-cross-linking methods [4, 13, 16, 17]. However, a suitable method for fabricating polysaccharide-based microspheres remains a major challenge in the field of microencapsulation, especially a method that can be used for various polysaccharide types. Moreover, drug loading efficiency is also an important factor for consideration. Recently, a water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion solvent diffusion method used to prepare water-soluble polymeric microspheres has been reported by our group [18, 19]. This method is simple, rapid, and low in cost. Heat, high-energy and high-cost apparatus, and the surfactant can be avoided, while the time is also reduced. Thus, it is suitable for larger-scale microsphere production. In this work, we report that this single-step W/O emulsion solvent diffusion method can be used to prepare various polysaccharide-based microspheres with and
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