Efferent pathways

In the nervous system, efferent nerves--otherwise known as motor or effector neuron--carry nerve impulses away from the central nervous system to effectors such as muscles or glands. This term can also be used to describe relative connections between nervous structures.

The motor nerves are efferent nerves involved in muscular control. The cell (biology) soma (biology)|body]] of the efferent neuron is found in the central nervous system where it is connected to a single, long axon and several short dendrites projecting out of the cell body itself. This axon then forms a neuromuscular junction with the effectors. The cell body of the motor neuron is satellite-shaped. The motor neuron is present in the grey matter of the spinal cord.

An easy mnemonic device for remembering the relationship between afferent and efferent is that an afferent connection arrives and an efferent connection exits.