neuromuscular junction
the junction between a motor neuron and the muscle fiber it innervates. In skeletal muscle, the muscle-cell plasma membrane (sarcolemma) is greatly folded in the region opposite the terminus of a motor axon, forming a motor end plate. When impulses arrive at the axon terminus, a neurotransmitter diffuses across the gap separating the axon and motor end plate. The neurotransmitter binds to receptors in the sarcolemma and causes an end-plate potential, which can trigger muscle contraction. Also called myoneural junction; neuromuscular synapse.