Overview. Effectors The somatic nervous system stimulates skeletal muscles, while the ANS innervates cardiac and smooth muscle and glands. Efferent Pathways and Ganglia In the somatic nervous system, the cell bodies of the neurons are in the spinal cord and their axons extend to the skeletal muscles they innervate.The ANS consists of a two-neuron chain.fferent Pathways and Ganglia. In the somatic nervous system, the cell bodies of the neurons are in the spinal cord and their axons extend to the skeletal muscles they innervate. The ANS consists of a two-neuron chain.