In the field of biology, it is called an effector, the nerve cells responsible for carrying out an action, before a stimulus it receives. The effectors are usually glands and muscles. The glands are responsible for producing secretions of specific substances, while the muscles perform a movement.
An example of an effector organ is the heart, this represents the effector of the cardiovascular system supported by the neurovegetative system. There are also the endocrine glands that shed their secretions due to the nervous influence or the action of another hormone.
The effectors have the ability to execute the order emanated from the nervous system, so the creation of the different types of neurons will be subject to the type of response produced by said system. There are two kinds of neurons: muscular and nervous. The former are linked to the motor part and the latter to the sensitive part.
Motor neurons are responsible for sending the different types of nerve impulses that originate in the body to the effectors. That is, the motor neurons send signals from the spinal cord, towards the muscles, in order to generate the movement of the body.
On the other hand, in the area of molecular biology, an effector is defined as a substance that works directly on another, generating a modification in its behavior, either by repression (inhibitor) or by activation (agonist). In this case, the effectors can be: tiny molecules such as nitric oxides, small peptides such as pepsinogen, or large proteins such as protein kinases.
In this area, in general, effectors are associated with signal interpretation pathways, either as a mediator or end product of its cascade, since they are necessary to carry out the biological activity of the process.
