To use all functions of this page, please activate cookies in your browser.
my.bionity.com
With an accout for my.bionity.com you can always see everything at a glance – and you can configure your own website and individual newsletter.
- My watch list
- My saved searches
- My saved topics
- My newsletter
Motor neuron
In vertebrates, the term motor neuron (or motoneuron) classically applies to neurons located in the central nervous system (CNS) that project their axons outside the CNS and directly or indirectly control muscles. Motor neuron is often synonymous with efferent neuron. Additional recommended knowledge
Anatomy and physiology
According to their targets, motoneurons are classified into three broad categories: "Somatic motoneurons", which directly innervate skeletal muscles, involved in locomotion (such as muscles of the limbs, abdominal, and intercostal muscles). “Special visceral motoneurons” — also called “branchial motoneurons”— which directly innervate branchial muscles (that motorize the gills in fish and the face and neck in land vertebrates). “General visceral motoneurons” — "visceral motoneurons" for short — which indirectly innervate smooth muscles of the viscera (like the heart, and the muscles of the arteries): they synapse onto neurons located in ganglia of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic), located in the peripheral nervous system (PNS), which themselves directly innervate visceral muscles (and also some gland cells). In other words:
It could be argued that, in the command of visceral muscles, the ganglionic neuron — parasympathetic or sympathetic — is the real “motoneuron”, being the one that directly innervates the muscle (whereas the “general visceral motoneuron” is, strictly speaking, a “preganglionic” neuron). But, for historical reasons, the term motoneuron is reserved for the CNS neuron. All motoneurons are cholinergic, that is, they release the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Parasympathetic ganglionic neurons are also cholinergic, whereas most sympathetic ganglionic neurons are noradrenergic, that is, they release the neurotransmitter noradrenaline. (see Table) FunctionThe interface between a motoneuron and muscle fiber is a specialized synapse called the neuromuscular junction. Upon adequate stimulation, the motoneuron releases a flood of neurotransmitters that bind to postsynaptic receptors and triggers a response in the muscle fiber.
Somatic motoneuronsSomatic motoneurons are further subdivided into two types: alpha efferent neurons and gamma efferent neurons. (Both types are called efferent to indicate the flow of information from the central nervous system (CNS) to the periphery.)
In addition to voluntary skeletal muscle contraction, alpha motoneurons also contribute to muscle tone, the continuous force generated by noncontracting muscle to oppose stretching. When a muscle is stretched, sensory neurons within the muscle spindle detect the degree of stretch and send a signal to the CNS. The CNS activates alpha motoneurons in the spinal cord, which cause extrafusal muscle fibers to contract and thereby resist further stretching. This process is also called the stretch reflex. Gamma motoneurons regulate the sensitivity of the spindle to muscle stretching. With activation of gamma neurons, intrafusal muscle fibers contract so that only a small stretch is required to activate spindle sensory neurons and the stretch reflex. Motor unitsA single motoneuron may synapse with one or more muscle fibers. The motoneuron and all of the muscle fibers to which it connects is a motor unit. See also
References
Categories: Neurons | Efferent neurons |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Motor_neuron". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |