Practice question · Multiple choice
A nerve signal and a hormone can both raise the heart rate. The neural version is over in milliseconds; the hormonal one takes seconds to begin and minutes to wear off. Why is the endocrine route so much slower at both ends?
Hints
- One system has a private line to a named target. Ask how the other one finds its target.
- Think about what has to happen for the signal to STOP in each case.
Show the answer
D. Because a hormone travels by blood and stops only when metabolised.
Why
A neuron has a wire and a gland does not: onset is limited by circulation time, and offset by metabolism, because nothing is actively clearing a synapse. Broadcast rather than point-to-point, which is why endocrine signalling can retune every tissue at once and keep them retuned for hours.
Practise Endocrine System
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More questions on Endocrine System
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