Question

What are similarities between muscle cells and nerve cells?

Answer 1

Nerve and muscle cells have a huge amount in common (nucleus, mitochondria and other organelles), however the property that they share that other cells do not have is the ability to react to electrochemical stimuli.

That is to say that a nerve is capable of passing an electrochemical signal (an action potential) along its length to a synaptic gap (a gap between two nerves or a nerve and a muscle), and transmitting that potential to another cell. In your brain this means that a signal passing along one nerve can be transmitted across a gap to another nerve. This transmission is mediated by chemicals that nerves make called neurotransmitters.

Similarly when a nerve hits a muscle the action potential will jump across the gap between the nerve and muscle via neurotransmitters and will spread into the muscle and cause the muscle to contract.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070122132934AAJog4L

http://www.bem.fi/book/02/02.htm

Answer 2

they are both excitable. (action potentials)