Olanzapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug, whose chronic use has been associated with the development of potential adverse effects such as weight gain and cardio-metabolic disorders like hypercholesterolemia and diabetes. To circumvent these side effects, the controlled release of olanzapine is a promising approach to improve adhesion of schizophrenic patients to the treatment. An innovative strategy to prolong drug release consists of loading the drug into biodegradable polymeric lipid-core nanocapsules. In this study, particle size, polydispersity, pH, zeta potential and drug loading of olanzapine-loaded lipid-core nanocapsules were analyzed. Weight gain, biochemical parameters and antipsychotic activity were evaluated in male Wistar rats. The lipid-core nanocapsules had a mean diameter of 156 +/- 13 nm, a polydispersity index lower than 0.1, a pH value of 6.12 +/- 0.14, zeta potential of -17 +/- 2.40 mV and encapsulation efficiency close to 100%. The animals treated with olanzapine-loaded lipid-core nanocapsules showed significantly lower weight gain (63.4 +/- 19.6 g) and total cholesterol levels (66.2 +/- 3.5 g x dl(-1)), compared to those administered with free olanzapine (112.6 +/- 10.3 g and 90.4 +/- 2.4 g x dl(-1)), respectively. Additionally, a more prolonged antipsychotic action was observed in the stereotyped behavior animal model induced by D,L-amphetamine, which affords to conclude that nanoencapsulation is a promising alternative to treat schizophrenic patients.