Veterinary Histology and Embryology

NERVE TERMINATIONS

• Axons which form peripheral fibres terminate in some peripheral structure to which or from which they convey nerve impulses.
• Efferent fibres terminate in tissues which are excited into activity by the nerve impulses somatic efferent fibres in voluntary striated muscle and visceral efferent in smooth muscle or secretory epithelium. These are called effector organs.
• Afferent fibres end freely in tissues or in specially organized structures which in either case they receive stimuli which cause them to carry nervous impulses to the CNS. These nerve endings are receptors.