Magnetic microparticles (MMP) have shown to be applied in increasing applications in various fields of biotechnology and medicine. One of their most promising utilization is the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in which superparamagnetic substances as magnetite are used in a nanometric size (less than 30 nm) and encapsulated within locally injected biodegradable microparticles. In this paper, magnetite has been encapsulated in polymer-based microparticles. The MMP have been prepared by an emulsion evaporation method. The different parameters influencing the particles size were investigated. The size was found to decrease as the stirring speed or the stabilizer amount (to certain limit) increases. The encapsulation efficacy was more than 90% yielding a magnetite loading of up to 30%, w/w. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed less than 2% of iron atoms at the microparticles surface. The zeta potential response of MMP towards pH variation was very similar to that of magnetite-free microparticles confirming the encapsulation of magnetite within the microparticles. X-ray diffraction assays showed that magnetite crystalline structure was conserved after emulsification and MMP formation. Vibration simple magnetometer (VSM) showed a superparamagnetic profile of the MMP with a magnetic saturation increasing with the increased magnetite amount in the microparticles. These magnetic microparticles can enable clinicians to control microparticles distribution after a local administration in tumors by MRI. They can also be administered to target a defined tumor area by focusing a magnetic field on the surfaces covering the cancerous tissue. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.