NERVE ENDINGS IN MUSCLE AND TENDON 



171 



NERVE ENDINGS IN MUSCLE AND TENDON 



A. VOLUNTARY STRIPED MUSCLE 



1. Motor End Plates. These organs form the intramuscular end- 

 ings of motor axons whose cell bodies are found in the ventral horns of 

 the gray matter of the spinal cord. The efferent fibers reach the muscle 

 through the many cerebrospinal nerve trunks. On entering the muscle 



FIG. 190. MOTOR NERVE ENDINGS IN STRIATED MUSCLE. 



A, from a lizard; B, from the guinea-pig; C, from the hedgehog. A and C are sur- 

 face views; in B the end plate is seen in profile, a, muscle fiber; 6, nerve fiber; c, nerve 

 ending in the form of a 'brush'; d, the sole plate; e, sarcolemma. A, X 160; B, X 700; 

 C, X 1200. (After Bohm and von Davidoff.) 



these nerves form a plexus in the perimysium from which nerve fibers 

 are distributed within the muscle bundles. Here they form an abundant 

 plexus of branching nerve fibers within the endomysium, the ultimate 

 branches being of sufficient number to supply one or more terminal nerve 

 fibers to each muscle fiber. 



