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General somatic afferent fibers
Scheme showing structure of a typical spinal nerve. 1. Somatic efferent. 2. Somatic afferent. 3,4,5. Sympathetic efferent. 6,7. Sympathetic afferent.
Gray's	subject #190 849

The general somatic afferent fibers (GSA, or somatic sensory fibers), afferent fibers, arise from cells in the spinal ganglia and are found in all the spinal nerves, except occasionally the first cervical, and conduct impulses of pain, touch and temperature from the surface of the body through the posterior roots to the spinal cord and impulses of muscle sense, tendon sense and joint sense from the deeper structures.

Examples of nerves containing GSA fibers include the trigeminal nerve, the facial nerve, the glossopharyngeal nerve, and the vagus nerve. ^[1]

See also

• Afferent nerve

References

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.