Cholinergic Nerve Fibers

(the abbreviated name of acetylcholinergic fibers), nerve fibers whose endings release the mediator acetylcholine during the transmission of an impulse. Cholinergic nerve fibers are found in the peripheral and central nervous systems of vertebrate and invertebrate animals. They mediate the transmission of excitation in the synapses that are formed by motor neurons in the skeletal muscles and by postganglionic parasympathetic (and some sympathetic) neurons in glands and blood vessels. They also mediate the transmission of inhibition by the endings of the vagus nerve fibers in the heart. The division of nerve fibers into cholinergic and adrenergic fibers was made obsolete by the discovery of more than ten mediators.