Abstract: Chitosan grafted poly(methacrylic acid)(CS-g-PMAA) was synthesized using methacrylic acid and chitosan as precursors and cerium ammonium nitrate as initiator.Products with different grafting degree were characterized by means of FTIR,¹H NMR and elemental analysis.Drug-loaded beads made from the as-prepared copolymers were fabricated by combining ionic-crosslink with chemical-crosslink using trisodium citrate and glutaraldehyde as crosslinking agent,respectively.The beads have a core-shell structure as revealed from scanning electron microscopy.The release behaviors of model drug incorporated in the beads were monitored using UV/Vis spectrophotometer and found to be dependent on pH and NaCl content.The results show that the drug release rate is slowest for CS-g-PMAA beads with grafting fraction (G_g) of 12.21%.The total drug release fraction for the CS-g-PMAA beads is 44.18% at pH=1.8 and is less than that of CS beads,which is 65.24%.Therefore,the grafting of CS could improve the drug release behavior.In addition,CS-g-PMAA beads have higher enzymatic stability than that of CS beads.