Afferent nerve fibers are the

axon An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action ...

s (nerve fibers) carried by a

sensory nerve A sensory nerve, or afferent nerve, is a general anatomic term for a nerve which contains predominantly somatic afferent nerve fibers. Afferent nerve fibers in a sensory nerve carry sensory information toward the central nervous system (CNS) f ...

that relay sensory information from sensory receptors to regions of the brain. Afferent projections ''arrive'' at a particular brain region.

Efferent nerve fiber Efferent nerve fibers refer to axonal projections that ''exit'' a particular region; as opposed to afferent projections that ''arrive'' at the region. These terms have a slightly different meaning in the context of the peripheral nervous syste ...

s are carried by efferent nerves and ''exit'' a region to act on muscles and glands. In the peripheral nervous system afferent and efferent nerve fibers are part of the somatic nervous system and arise from outside of the

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spin ...

. Sensory nerves carry the afferent fibers to enter into the spinal cord, and

motor nerve A motor nerve is a nerve that 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 ...

s carry the efferent fibers out of the spinal cord to act on

skeletal muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of m ...

s. In the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all p ...

non-motor efferents are carried in efferent nerves to act on

gland In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream ( endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface ( exocrine gland). Structure ...

Structure

Afferent neurons are pseudounipolar neurons that have a single process leaving the cell body dividing into two branches: the long one towards the sensory organ, and the short one toward the central nervous system (e.g. spinal cord). These cells do have sensory afferent dendrites, similar to those typically inherent in

neuron A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, electrically excitable cell (biology), cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous ...

s. They have a smooth and rounded cell body located in the ganglia of the peripheral nervous system. Just outside the

, thousands of afferent neuronal cell bodies are aggregated in a swelling in the dorsal root known as the

dorsal root ganglion A dorsal root ganglion (or spinal ganglion; also known as a posterior root ganglion) is a cluster of neurons (a ganglion) in a dorsal root of a spinal nerve. The cell bodies of sensory neurons known as first-order neurons are located in the dor ...

. All of the axons in the dorsal root, which contains afferent nerve fibers, are used in the transduction of somatosensory information. Somatosensory receptors include senses such as pain, touch, temperature, itch, and stretch. For example, a specific muscle fiber called an intrafusal muscle fiber is a type of afferent neuron that lies parallel to the extrafusal muscle fibers thus functions as a stretch receptor by detecting muscle length. All of these sensations travel along the same general pathways towards the brain. One pathway dorsal column-medial lemniscus pathwaybegins with sensation from the periphery being sent via afferent nerve fiber of the

(first order neuron) through the spinal cord to the dorsal column nuclei (second order neuron) in the

brainstem The brainstem (or brain stem) is the posterior stalk-like part of the brain that connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. In the human brain the brainstem is composed of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. The midbrain is ...

. The second order neuron's projection decussates at the medulla through medial lemniscus to the third order neurons in the

thalamus The thalamus (from Greek θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter located in the dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of the forebrain). Nerve fibers project out of the thalamus to the cerebral cortex in all direction ...

. The third order neuron's axon terminates at the primary somatosensory cortex of the parietal lobe.

Types

Types of afferent fibers include the general somatic (GSA), the general visceral (GVA), the special somatic (SSA) and the special visceral afferent fibers (SVA). Alternatively, in the

sensory system The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. A sensory system consists of sensory neurons (including the sensory receptor cells), neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved ...

, afferent fibers can be classified by sizes with category specifications depending on if they innervate the skins or muscles.

Function

In the

nervous system In Biology, biology, the nervous system is the Complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its Behavior, actions and Sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its ...

there is a "closed loop" system of sensation, decision, and reactions. This process is carried out through the activity of sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons. A touch or

pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...

ful stimulus, for example, creates a sensation in the brain only after information about the stimulus travels there via afferent nerve pathways.

Etymology and mnemonics

Afferent is derived from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

participle ''afferentem'' (''af- = ad-'' : to + ''ferre'' : bear, carry), meaning carrying into. ''Ad'' and ''ex'' give an easy mnemonic device for remembering the relationship between ''afferent'' and ''efferent'' : ''afferent connection arrives'' and an ''efferent connection exits''. Another mnemonic device used for remembering afferent and efferent (in terms of the spinal cord, with its dorsal/ventral organization) is SAME DAVE. Sensory Afferent Motor Efferent, Dorsal Afferent Ventral Efferent. Afferent and efferent are connected to affect and effect through their common Latin roots: Afferent nerves affect the subject, whereas efferent nerves allow the subject to effect change.

References

Other References