| Motor nerve | |
|---|---|
 Motor nerve of ox | |
| Details | |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | nervus motorius |
| FMA | 5867 |
| Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy | |
A motor nerve, or efferent nerve, is a nerve that contains exclusively efferent nerve fibers and transmits motor signals from the central nervous system (CNS) to the muscles of the body. This is different from the motor neuron, which includes a cell body and branching of dendrites, while the nerve is made up of a bundle of axons. Motor nerves act as efferent nerves which carry information out from the CNS to muscles, as opposed to afferent nerves (also called sensory nerves), which transfer signals from sensory receptors in the periphery to the CNS.[1] Efferent nerves can also connect to glands or other organs/issues instead of muscles (and so motor nerves are not equivalent to efferent nerves).[2][3] The vast majority of nerves contain both sensory and motor fibers and are therefore called mixed nerves.[4]
- ^ Slater, Clarke R. (2015-11-01). "The functional organization of motor nerve terminals". Progress in Neurobiology. 134: 55–103. doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2015.09.004. ISSN 0301-0082. PMID 26439950. S2CID 207407321.
- ^ "Efferent Nerve - an overview". Science Direct. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
- ^ "Motor Nerve - an overview". Science Direct. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
- ^ Glass, Jonathan D (2018-03-19). "Neuromuscular Disease: Protecting the nerve terminals". eLife. 7. doi:10.7554/eLife.35664. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 5858932. PMID 29553367.