**5. Summary**

Current evidence shows that EA generates measurable changes in the brain that are detectable with functional imaging, behavioral responses, and neurotransmitter signaling. The results from nonhuman primates also provides direct evidence between EA stimulations and dynamic alterations in the resting levels of glutamate in the motor cortex, which may at least partially explain a mechanism of action for EA in the nervous system. Nevertheless, we are only at beginning of a quest to better understand the mechanism of action that underlie acupuncture. The few studies with limited number of subjects will have to expand if we are to understand how acupuncture affects the central nervous system.

#### **Author details**

Yi-Ning Yin1 , Jorge E. Quintero2,3 and Zhiming M. Zhang2 \*

1 Hunter Acupuncture, NSW, Australia

2 Department of Neuroscience, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

3 Center for Microelectrode Technology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

\*Address all correspondence to: zzhan01@uky.edu

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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