Gold nanoclusters for optimizing the general efficacies of herbal medicines on nerve repair after spinal cord injury

•We successfully use gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) to improve the efficiencies of berberine (BRB), astragalus polysaccharides (APS), and diosgenin (DIO) for relieving nerve damages after spinal cord injury (SCI).•We found BRB-AuNCs, APS-AuNCs, and DIO-AuNCs reduced the excessive activation of pro-inflammatory M1 type microglia and inhibited the expression of NLRP3, possibly through the NF-κB signaling pathway.•The introduction of AuNCs is promising to be developed as a general assistant to optimize the efficiency of herbal medicines for in vivo disease treatment.•The current study opens an avenue for magnifying the efficiency of herbal medicines for the treatment of various diseases.