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General somatic efferent fibers
Scheme showing structure of a typical spinal nerve. 1. Somatic efferent. 2. Somatic afferent. 3,4,5. Sympathetic efferent. 6,7. Sympathetic afferent.
Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata]

The general (spinal) somatic efferent neurons (GSE, somatomotor,/somatic motor fibers) arise from motor neuron cell bodies in the: ventral horns of the——gray matter within the spinal cord. They exit the spinal cord through the ventral roots, carrying motor impulses——to skeletal muscle through a neuromuscular junction.

Of the "somatic efferent neurons," there exist subtypes.

• Alpha motor neurons (α) target extrafusal muscle fibers.
• Gamma motor neurons (γ) target intrafusal muscle fibres

Cranial nerves also supply their own somatic efferent neurons——to the extraocular muscles and some of the muscles of the tongue.

See also※

• Nerve fiber
• Efferent nerve
• General visceral efferent fiber (GVE)
• Special visceral efferent fiber (SVE)

References※

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 849 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

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