Mature silkworm powders ameliorated scopolamine-induced amnesia by enhancing mitochondrial functions in the brains of mice

[Display omitted] •GS-SMSP has strong cell proliferation and anti-oxidative stress effects.•GS-SMSP has a dose-dependent SCO-induced amnesia suppression effect.•GS-SMSP increases the activities of MitoComs and GSTs in HT22 cells.•GS-SMSP restores reduced MitoComs’ activities and ATP amounts in the brains of SCO mice.•GS-SMSP increases MitoComs’ activities and ATP amounts in the brains of Sal mice. The main goal of this study was to elucidate the neuron proliferation and cognition improvement effects of steamed and freeze-dried mature silkworm powders (SMSP). Concentrates of 80% methanol extracts from golden silk-SMSP (GS-SMSP) contained 3.6–4.9 times more phytochemicals and 1.8–3.1 times more antioxidant activities and showed significantly higher mouse hippocampal HT22 neuronal cell proliferation effects than those of white jade (WJ)-SMSP. In addition, GS-SMSP was more effective in suppressing scopolamine (SCO)-induced amnesia in the mice than WJ-SMSP. Furthermore, the suppression of SCO-induced amnesia by GS-SMSP in the mice was dose-dependent. The significantly reduced mitochondrial respiratory complex (MitoCom) activities and ATP amounts in the brains of SCO-injected mice were recovered in the mice supplemented with GS-SMSP. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that enhanced mitochondrial function in the brains of mice supplemented with GS-SMSP was the molecular basis of suppression of SCO-induced amnesia in a rodent model.