Extrafusal muscle fiber Extrafusal muscle fiber Extrafusal muscle fibers are the skeletal standard muscle fibers that are innervated by alpha motor neurons and generate tension by contracting, thereby allowing for skeletal movement. They make up the large mass of skeletal muscle tissue and are attached to bone by fibrous tissue extensions (tendons). Each alpha motor neuron and the extrafusal muscle fibers innervated by it make up a motor unit. The connection between the alpha motor neuron and the extrafusal muscle fiber is a neuromuscular junction, where the neuron's signal, the action potential, is transduced to the muscle fiber by the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Extrafusal
Opponens pollicis muscle Opponens pollicis muscle The opponens pollicis is a small, triangular muscle in the hand, which functions to oppose the thumb. It is one of the three thenar muscles, lying deep to the abductor pollicis brevis and lateral to the flexor pollicis brevis. The opponens pollicis originates from the flexor retinaculum of the hand and the tubercle of the trapezium. It passes downward and laterally, and is inserted into the whole length of the metacarpal bone of the thumb on its radial side. Like the other thenar muscles, the opponens pollicis is innervated by the recurrent branch of the median nerve.