Current Status of Substance Abuse in East Asia and Therapeutic Prospects.

The abuse of drugs, including opioids and stimulants, is a major public health problem worldwide, including in East Asia. Nonetheless, there are no pharmacological treatments for many psychiatric or neurological symptoms associated with that abuse. Abused drugs exert several detrimental effects on structural plasticity in brain regions associated with reward circuits. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie this structural plasticity in brain neurons will aid in the development of novel therapeutic drugs for substance abuse. In this review, we discuss recent topics in substance abuse in East Asia and the therapeutic drugs available. Finally, we discuss potential therapeutic signalling pathways involved in long-term changes to structural plasticity in the brain after repeated administration of opioids and stimulants.