A ventral root is a bundle of outgoing motor axons leaving the anterior side of the spinal cord. It contains somatic motor fibres and, at appropriate spinal levels, autonomic efferent fibres. It joins a sensory dorsal root to form a mixed spinal nerve.[ref]
For example, an action potential destined for a limb muscle can leave the spinal cord through a ventral root, then continue through a mixed spinal nerve and an anterior spinal nerve ramus. The directional separation near the spinal cord does not mean every later branch is motor-only. A ventral root is also distinct from the anterior branch formed after the roots unite.
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