The contents about the central action mechanisms of needling Zusanli（ST 36） were sorted by summarizing the relevant literatures published in the past 10 years, and it was found that： by comparing acupuncture at Zusanli（ST 36）, other acupoints or sham points, most studies showed that Zusanli（ST 36） had relatively specific characteristics in the brain function response; studies on the central action mechanisms of Zusanli（ST 36） were mainly focused on sequelae of cerebral apoplexy, pain, gastrointestinal diseases, weight loss and drug addiction withdrawal and so on; acupuncture manipulations, stimulation methods, individual differences, stimulation quantity, and stimulation duration, etc. could also induce different brain function responses; acupuncture at Zusanli（ST 36） had an after-working effect, also called long-term effect, but with poor repeatability. So, it was suggested that the future studies should focus on the factors that affect the clinical efficacies and experimental results, including the compatibility effects of the acupoints, reproducibility of research results, sample size, acupuncture methods, long-term effects and disease entities.
