SCI 221 PHYSIOLOGY 2026 TEST PAPER QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Endocytosis - ✔✔The taking in of matter by a living cell by invagination of its
membrane to form a vacuole.
✔✔Endoderm (Entoderm) - ✔✔Inner or bottom layer of cells of an embryo from which
systems such as the digestive system and its glands and the respiratory system
develop.
✔✔Epithelium - ✔✔Any cellular tissue covering a free surface or lining a tube or cavity;
the skin.
✔✔Excitatory (fast) Synapses - ✔✔Causes a positive action potential in neurons and
cells, uses the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (Ach)
✔✔Gamete - ✔✔Haploid cells that fuse to form the zygote; cells with half the
chromosomes that join at fertilisation to form the complete embryo.
✔✔Gonads - ✔✔Sex organs; ovaries in the female and testes in the male.
✔✔Gonadotropins - ✔✔Hormones (follicle stimulating hormone and luteinising
hormone) secreted by the pituitary gland that affect the function of the sex organs or
gonads.
✔✔Heterophilic - ✔✔Either acidic or basic in reaction.
✔✔Histamines - ✔✔Nitrogenous compound involved in local immune responses, brain
function, spinal cord, and uterus. Involved in the inflammatory response
✔✔Homeothermic - ✔✔Animals that regulate their temperature to maintain a generally
constant temperature of their deep organs.
✔✔Hyperthermia - ✔✔Body temperature above the normal.
✔✔Hypothermia - ✔✔Body temperature below the normal.
✔✔Ingest - ✔✔To convey food into the alimentary canal; to eat.
✔✔Infection - ✔✔Invasion of the body by infectious agents such as bacteria or viruses
which usually cause a disease condition.
✔✔Inhibitory (slow) Synapses - ✔✔Inhibits and/or 'slows' the effect that a neuron has
on it's target across a synapse
,✔✔Insulin - ✔✔A hormone produced in the pancreas by the islets of Langerhans,
regulates the amount of glucose in the blood.
✔✔Ischemia - ✔✔An inadequate blood supply to an organ or part of the body,
especially the heart muscles
✔✔Lung Expansion (Inspiration) - ✔✔During inspiration, the diaphragm and external
intercostal muscles contract, causing the rib cage to expand and move outward,
expanding the thoracic cavity and lung volume. During expiration, the relaxation of the
diaphragm decreases volume and increases pressure. Expiration pushes air out of the
lungs.
✔✔Meiosis - ✔✔Chromosomes occur in pairs and one of each pair is supplied by each
the male and female to form the normal complete cell(s) on fertilisation.
✔✔Metabolism - ✔✔The chemical changes, both constructive and destructive,
occurring in living organisms.
✔✔Mitosis - ✔✔The process of cell division or replication whereby daughter cells are
produced that have the same chromosome make-up as the original cell(s).
✔✔Myelin Sheath - ✔✔Insulating envelope that surrounds the core of a nerve fiber or
axon that facilitates the transmission of nerve impulses. The sheath is formed from the
cell membrane of a Schwann cell in the Peripheral nervous system.
✔✔Myocardium - ✔✔The muscle tissue of the heart.
✔✔Osmosis - ✔✔The diffusion of H2O across a semi permeable or selectively
permeable membrane
✔✔Ovum - ✔✔The female gamete; that part of the egg yolk fertilised by the sperm.
✔✔Parathyroid Hormone - ✔✔A gland next to the thyroid which secretes a hormone
(parathyroid hormone) that regulates calcium levels in a person's body
✔✔Pericardial - ✔✔To do with the heart i.e. around the heart.
✔✔Peritoneal - ✔✔To do with the intestines and/or abdomen.
✔✔Peyer's Patches - ✔✔Lymphoid tissue in the walls of the small intestine involved in
immunity
, ✔✔pH - ✔✔A term based on a mathematical formula that describes the acidity/alkalinity
of a solution. Neutral is 7, acid below 7 and alkaline above 7. Pure water is neutral.
✔✔Phagocyte - ✔✔A white blood cell with the ability to engulf and consume foreign
bodies e.g. bacteria.
✔✔Physiology - ✔✔Dealing with the function and activities of organisms i.e. how they
work.
✔✔Pituitary Adenoma - ✔✔Non-cancerous tumor in the pituitary gland that do not
spread beyond the skull
✔✔Pleural - ✔✔To do with the lungs.
✔✔Posterior Pituitary Gland (Neurohypophysis) - ✔✔Comprises the pituitary lobe of the
pituitary gland and is part of the endocrine system. Major hormones secreted include
Oxytocin and Antidiuretic hormone.
✔✔Preganglionic Neurons (Parasympathetic) - ✔✔Originates in the brainstem or spinal
cord
✔✔Protein Kinase A - ✔✔A family of enzymes that is dependent on cellular levels of
cyclic AMP. It has several functions in the cell such as regulation of glycogen, sugar,
and lipid metabolism.
✔✔Postganglionic Neurons (Parasympathetic) - ✔✔Lies outside the central nervous
system in collections of nerve cells called autonomic ganglia
✔✔Pulmonary - ✔✔To do with the lungs e.g. pulmonary veins drain the lungs.
✔✔Purkinje Fibers - ✔✔Special muscle fibres found in hearts that have a higher rate of
conduction of the contractile impulse. They transmit the impulse at a faster rate.
✔✔Sebaceous - ✔✔Containing or secreting fatty matter.
✔✔Second Messenger - ✔✔A substance whose release within a cell is promoted by a
hormone and which brings about a response by the cell.
✔✔Serous Membrane - ✔✔Very thin membrane of connecting tissue.
✔✔Signal Amplification - ✔✔A signal may reach a cell in the form of a single hormone
molecule. Inside the cell, the signal must be amplified so that the response is carried out
multiple times rather than just be a single molecule. Amplification is built into the
system.
AND SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Endocytosis - ✔✔The taking in of matter by a living cell by invagination of its
membrane to form a vacuole.
✔✔Endoderm (Entoderm) - ✔✔Inner or bottom layer of cells of an embryo from which
systems such as the digestive system and its glands and the respiratory system
develop.
✔✔Epithelium - ✔✔Any cellular tissue covering a free surface or lining a tube or cavity;
the skin.
✔✔Excitatory (fast) Synapses - ✔✔Causes a positive action potential in neurons and
cells, uses the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (Ach)
✔✔Gamete - ✔✔Haploid cells that fuse to form the zygote; cells with half the
chromosomes that join at fertilisation to form the complete embryo.
✔✔Gonads - ✔✔Sex organs; ovaries in the female and testes in the male.
✔✔Gonadotropins - ✔✔Hormones (follicle stimulating hormone and luteinising
hormone) secreted by the pituitary gland that affect the function of the sex organs or
gonads.
✔✔Heterophilic - ✔✔Either acidic or basic in reaction.
✔✔Histamines - ✔✔Nitrogenous compound involved in local immune responses, brain
function, spinal cord, and uterus. Involved in the inflammatory response
✔✔Homeothermic - ✔✔Animals that regulate their temperature to maintain a generally
constant temperature of their deep organs.
✔✔Hyperthermia - ✔✔Body temperature above the normal.
✔✔Hypothermia - ✔✔Body temperature below the normal.
✔✔Ingest - ✔✔To convey food into the alimentary canal; to eat.
✔✔Infection - ✔✔Invasion of the body by infectious agents such as bacteria or viruses
which usually cause a disease condition.
✔✔Inhibitory (slow) Synapses - ✔✔Inhibits and/or 'slows' the effect that a neuron has
on it's target across a synapse
,✔✔Insulin - ✔✔A hormone produced in the pancreas by the islets of Langerhans,
regulates the amount of glucose in the blood.
✔✔Ischemia - ✔✔An inadequate blood supply to an organ or part of the body,
especially the heart muscles
✔✔Lung Expansion (Inspiration) - ✔✔During inspiration, the diaphragm and external
intercostal muscles contract, causing the rib cage to expand and move outward,
expanding the thoracic cavity and lung volume. During expiration, the relaxation of the
diaphragm decreases volume and increases pressure. Expiration pushes air out of the
lungs.
✔✔Meiosis - ✔✔Chromosomes occur in pairs and one of each pair is supplied by each
the male and female to form the normal complete cell(s) on fertilisation.
✔✔Metabolism - ✔✔The chemical changes, both constructive and destructive,
occurring in living organisms.
✔✔Mitosis - ✔✔The process of cell division or replication whereby daughter cells are
produced that have the same chromosome make-up as the original cell(s).
✔✔Myelin Sheath - ✔✔Insulating envelope that surrounds the core of a nerve fiber or
axon that facilitates the transmission of nerve impulses. The sheath is formed from the
cell membrane of a Schwann cell in the Peripheral nervous system.
✔✔Myocardium - ✔✔The muscle tissue of the heart.
✔✔Osmosis - ✔✔The diffusion of H2O across a semi permeable or selectively
permeable membrane
✔✔Ovum - ✔✔The female gamete; that part of the egg yolk fertilised by the sperm.
✔✔Parathyroid Hormone - ✔✔A gland next to the thyroid which secretes a hormone
(parathyroid hormone) that regulates calcium levels in a person's body
✔✔Pericardial - ✔✔To do with the heart i.e. around the heart.
✔✔Peritoneal - ✔✔To do with the intestines and/or abdomen.
✔✔Peyer's Patches - ✔✔Lymphoid tissue in the walls of the small intestine involved in
immunity
, ✔✔pH - ✔✔A term based on a mathematical formula that describes the acidity/alkalinity
of a solution. Neutral is 7, acid below 7 and alkaline above 7. Pure water is neutral.
✔✔Phagocyte - ✔✔A white blood cell with the ability to engulf and consume foreign
bodies e.g. bacteria.
✔✔Physiology - ✔✔Dealing with the function and activities of organisms i.e. how they
work.
✔✔Pituitary Adenoma - ✔✔Non-cancerous tumor in the pituitary gland that do not
spread beyond the skull
✔✔Pleural - ✔✔To do with the lungs.
✔✔Posterior Pituitary Gland (Neurohypophysis) - ✔✔Comprises the pituitary lobe of the
pituitary gland and is part of the endocrine system. Major hormones secreted include
Oxytocin and Antidiuretic hormone.
✔✔Preganglionic Neurons (Parasympathetic) - ✔✔Originates in the brainstem or spinal
cord
✔✔Protein Kinase A - ✔✔A family of enzymes that is dependent on cellular levels of
cyclic AMP. It has several functions in the cell such as regulation of glycogen, sugar,
and lipid metabolism.
✔✔Postganglionic Neurons (Parasympathetic) - ✔✔Lies outside the central nervous
system in collections of nerve cells called autonomic ganglia
✔✔Pulmonary - ✔✔To do with the lungs e.g. pulmonary veins drain the lungs.
✔✔Purkinje Fibers - ✔✔Special muscle fibres found in hearts that have a higher rate of
conduction of the contractile impulse. They transmit the impulse at a faster rate.
✔✔Sebaceous - ✔✔Containing or secreting fatty matter.
✔✔Second Messenger - ✔✔A substance whose release within a cell is promoted by a
hormone and which brings about a response by the cell.
✔✔Serous Membrane - ✔✔Very thin membrane of connecting tissue.
✔✔Signal Amplification - ✔✔A signal may reach a cell in the form of a single hormone
molecule. Inside the cell, the signal must be amplified so that the response is carried out
multiple times rather than just be a single molecule. Amplification is built into the
system.
