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
Anatomical terms of muscle set of fibers that perform the same function, and are usually supplied by different nerves for different set of fibers. For example, the tongue itself is a composite muscle made up of various components like longitudinal, transverse, horizontal muscles with different parts innervated having different nerve supply. The "insertion" and "origin" of a muscle are the two places where it is anchored, one at each end. The tissue of the attachment is called an "enthesis". The "origin" of a muscle is the bone, typically proximal, which has greater mass and is more stable during a contraction than a muscle's insertion.