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QCHP Medical Licensing Exam The Endocrine System — practice questions

Explore 42 free The Endocrine System questions in QCHP Medical Licensing Exam Physiology. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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The Endocrine System questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 42.

What is the defining feature of an endocrine gland?Read the answer and worked solution →Histamine released by immune cells in the bronchial tree makes neighbouring smooth muscle constrict. Which kind of signalling is that?Read the answer and worked solution →Adrenal hormones of the fight-or-flight response act within seconds. How long can certain reproductive hormones take to produce a response in target cells?Read the answer and worked solution →Amine hormones are synthesised from which amino acids?Read the answer and worked solution →Testosterone, aldosterone and cortisol are all built from which precursor?Read the answer and worked solution →All amino acid derived hormones bind cell membrane receptors except one lipid-soluble group. Which group is the exception?Read the answer and worked solution →In the cAMP second messenger system, the activated G protein switches on which enzyme?Read the answer and worked solution →Activated phospholipase C cleaves a membrane-bound phospholipid into which two molecules?Read the answer and worked solution →Insulin drives glucose into liver glycogen while glucagon breaks that glycogen back down. Which hormone interaction does this show?Read the answer and worked solution →Osmoreceptors sense a rise in blood osmolarity and antidiuretic hormone is released. Which class of stimulus triggered that release?Read the answer and worked solution →Which statement about the posterior pituitary is correct?Read the answer and worked solution →The paraventricular nuclei make oxytocin. Which hormone do the supraoptic nuclei make?Read the answer and worked solution →Antidiuretic hormone acts on target cells in which location?Read the answer and worked solution →Why does antidiuretic hormone also carry the name vasopressin?Read the answer and worked solution →Which four anterior pituitary hormones are grouped as the tropic hormones?Read the answer and worked solution →Excess growth hormone in an adult who has already stopped growing causes which disorder?Read the answer and worked solution →Where does the thyroid gland sit?Read the answer and worked solution →Which comparison of triiodothyronine and thyroxine is correct?Read the answer and worked solution →What proportion of circulating triiodothyronine and thyroxine is bound to plasma transport proteins?Read the answer and worked solution →Dietary iodine deficiency enlarges the thyroid gland. What accumulates inside it?Read the answer and worked solution →Which cells secrete calcitonin, and what does it do to blood calcium?Read the answer and worked solution →Parathyroid hormone is secreted in response to which change in the blood?Read the answer and worked solution →Parathyroid hormone increases dietary calcium absorption by prompting the kidneys to make what?Read the answer and worked solution →Which region of the adrenal cortex produces the mineralocorticoids?Read the answer and worked solution →Angiotensin-converting enzyme turns angiotensin I into angiotensin II in which organ?Read the answer and worked solution →Which cells of the adrenal medulla release epinephrine and norepinephrine?Read the answer and worked solution →Which stage of the general adaptation syndrome is the fight-or-flight response?Read the answer and worked solution →Hyposecretion of corticosteroids produces which laboratory picture?Read the answer and worked solution →Which cells make melatonin, and what shuts its production down?Read the answer and worked solution →Which gonadal hormone holds down FSH secretion by the anterior pituitary?Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

What is the defining feature of an endocrine gland?

  1. It secretes hormones directly into surrounding fluid
  2. It releases neurotransmitters into a synaptic cleft
  3. It carries enzymes through ducts to a target organ
  4. It absorbs hormones directly from the bloodstream
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Correct answer: A. It secretes hormones directly into surrounding fluid

1. Endocrine glands are ductless, so their product is emptied into the fluid that surrounds them. 2. Interstitial fluid and blood vessels then carry the hormone to distant target cells. 3. Exocrine glands such as sebaceous and sweat glands are the ones that use ducts. 4. Neurotransmitters belong to neurons crossing a synaptic cleft, not to a gland pouring into blood. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 17 "The Endocrine System", section 17.1 An Overview of the Endocrine System_

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Histamine released by immune cells in the bronchial tree makes neighbouring smooth muscle constrict. Which kind of signalling is that?

  1. Autocrine signalling
  2. Paracrine signalling
  3. Endocrine signalling
  4. Synaptic signalling
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Correct answer: B. Paracrine signalling

1. A paracrine is a chemical that produces its response in neighbouring cells. 2. Histamine from bronchial immune cells acts on the smooth muscle next to it, so it is a paracrine. 3. An autocrine acts back on the very cell that released it, which is not the case here. 4. Endocrine signals travel in blood to distant targets, and paracrine concentrations are too low for that. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 17 "The Endocrine System", section 17.1 An Overview of the Endocrine System_

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Adrenal hormones of the fight-or-flight response act within seconds. How long can certain reproductive hormones take to produce a response in target cells?

  1. Up to 4 hours
  2. Up to 12 hours
  3. Up to 48 hours
  4. Up to 96 hours
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Correct answer: C. Up to 48 hours

1. Endocrine signalling is slower than neural signalling because the messenger has to travel in blood. 2. The speed varies by hormone rather than being fixed for the whole system. 3. Epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal glands act within seconds, which is the fast extreme. 4. Certain reproductive hormones sit at the slow extreme, needing up to 48 hours. 5. The shorter windows offered miss that ceiling and would make endocrine signalling look almost neural. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 17 "The Endocrine System", section 17.1 An Overview of the Endocrine System_

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