► A synthetic compound, HBU-39, potently inhibited butyrylcholinesterase. ► Scopolamine-induced amnesia showed significant reduction in neurogenesis. ► HBU-39 strongly ameliorated the reduction of neurogenesis induced by scopolamine. In this study, we synthesized 1-(4-(benzod1,3dioxol-5-ylmethyl)piperazin-1-yl)-5-(1,2-dithiolan-3-yl)pentan-1-one, HBU-39, a (α)-lipoic acid derivative, and found this compound strongly inhibited butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) in an in vitro experiment. We also examined the effects of HBU-39 on cell proliferation and neuroblast differentiation using the specific markers Ki67 and doublecortin (DCX), respectively, in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of a rat model of scopolamine-induced amnesia. For this, scopolamine was subcutaneously administered for 28days by an ALzet osmotic minipump (44mg/mL delivered at 2.5μL/h). HBU-39 (1mg/kg per day) and galantamine (an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor used as a control; 5mg/kg per day) were intraperitoneally administered for 28days. The administration of scopolamine significantly decreased the mean number of Ki67- and DCX-immunoreactive cells in the dentate gyrus. However, treatment with both HBU-39 and galantamine significantly ameliorated the reductions in cell proliferation and neuroblast differentiation. In particular, the mean number of Ki67- and DCX-immunoreactive cells was prominently abundant in the HBU-treated group compared to that in the galantamine-treated group. These results suggest that the BuChE inhibitor, HBU-39, can ameliorate the scopolamine-induced reductions of cell proliferation and neuroblast differentiation, and HBU-39 may be applicable to amnesia patients to promote memory functions.