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MCAT Prep Biology

Subjects : mcat, science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The valvecontrolling release of bile and pancreatic juice into the bloodstream.






2. The 28 days of the menstrual cycle as they apply to the events in the uterus. The endometrial cycle is also known as the uterine cycle - and has the three subphases: menstruation - the proliferative phase - and the secretory phase.






3. A diploid cell that can undergo mitosis to form more spermatogonium - and can also be triggered to undergo meiosis to form sperm.






4. An enzyme secreted by the juxtaglomerular cells when blood pressure decreases. Renin onverts angiotensinogen to angiotensin I.






5. The connection of a mosin head group to an actin filament during muscle contraction (the sliding filament theory).






6. A tropic hormone produced by the anterior pituitary gland that targets the thyroid gland - stimulating it to produce and release thyroid hormone.






7. The innermost layer of the eyeball. The retina is made up of a layer of photoreceptors - a layer of bipolar cells - and a layer of ganglion cells.






8. The movement of teh membrane potential of a cell away from rest potential in a more positive direction.






9. A non - bony material that fills the hollow spaces inside bones. Red bone marrow is found in regiosn of spongy bone and is the site of blood cell (red and white) production. Yellow bone marrow is found in the diaphysis (shaft) of long bones - is most






10. Steroid hormones secreted from the adrenal cortex. The two major classes are teh mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids. Aldosterone is the principal mineralocorticoid - and cortisol is the principal glucorcorticoid.






11. All parts of the nervous system except for the brain and spinal cord.






12. A pair of similar chromosomes that have the same genes in the same order - but may have different versions (alleles) of those genes. One of the pair of chromosomes came from Mom in an ovum - and the other came from Dad in a sperm. Humans have 23 pair






13. A point mutation in which a codon that specifies an amino acid is mutated into a new codon that specifies the same amion acid.






14. The cells of the afferent artery at the juxtaglomerular apparatus. They are baroreceptors that secrete renin upon sensing a decrease in blood pressure.






15. Also called falopian tubes - these tubes extend laterally from their side of the uterus and serve as a passageway for the ocyte to travel from the ovary to the uterus. This is also the normal site of fertilization. Severing of the uterine tubes (tuba






16. A mutation caused by an insertion or deletion of base pairs in a gene sequence in DNA such that the reading frame of the gene (and thus teh amino acid sequence of the protein) is altered.






17. The cell body of a neuron.






18. The second phase of meiosis II. Metaphase II is identical to mitotic metaphase - except that the number of chromosomes was reduced by half during meiosis I.






19. The interior of a mitochondrion (the region bounded by the inner membrane). - The matrix is the site of action of pyruvate dehydroganse complex and the Krebs cycle.






20. A subsequent immune response to previously encountered antigen that results in antibody production and T cell activation. The secondary immune response is mediated by memory cells (produced during the primary immune respone) and is much faster and st






21. The folds of the inner membrane of a mitochondrion






22. One of the three primary (embryonic) germ layers formed during gastrulation. Endoderm ultimately forms internal structures - such as the inner lining of the GI tract and glandular organs.






23. A structure composed of a ring of nine microtube triplets - found in pairs in the MTOC (microtubule organizing center) of a cell. The centrioles duplicate during the cell division - and serve as the organizing center for the mitotic spindle.






24. A virus with an RNA genome (e.g. HIV) that undergoes a lysogenic life cycle in a host with a double stranded DNA genome. In order to integrate its genome with the host cell genome - the virus must first reverse trasncribe its RNA genome to DNA.






25. A point mutation in which a condon that specifies an amino acid is mutated into a stop (nonsense) codon.






26. A clear area in a lawn of bacteria. Plaques represent an area where bacteria are lysing (dying) and usually caused by a lytic virus.






27. The phase of the cell cycle during which the replicated genome is divided. Mitosis has four phases (prophase - metaphase - anaphase - telophase) and includes cytokinesis (the physical splitting of the cell into two new cells).






28. Mendel's seond law. States that genes found on different chromosomes - or genes found very far apart on the same chromosome (i.e. - unlinked genes) sort independently of one another during gamete formation (meiosis).






29. An asexual method of bacterial reproduction that serves only to increase the size of the population; ther is no introduciton of gnetic diversity. THe bacterium simply grows in size until it has doubled its cellular components - then it replicates its






30. The phase of mitosis during which the cell physically splits into two daugter cells. Cytokinesis begins near the end of anaphase - and is completed during telophase.






31. Gaps in the myelin sheath of the axons of peripheral neruons. Action potentials can 'hump' from node to node - thus increasing the speed of conduction (saltatory conduction).






32. A specialized region at the ends of eukaryotic chromosmes that contains several repeats of a particular DNA sequence. These ends are maintained (in some cells) with the help of a special DNA poymerase called telomerase. In cells that lack telomerase






33. The enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine in the synaptic cleft.






34. The first step in viral infection. Attachemen of a virus to its host is very specific and is also known as adsorption.






35. The third phase of meiosis II. During anaphase II the sister chromatids are finally spearated at their centromeres and puled to opposite sides of teh cell. Note that anaphase II is identical to mitotic anaphase - excep the number of chromosmes was re






36. A bacteria having a round shape (plural = cocci)






37. A long projection on a bacterial surface involved in an attachment - e.g. - the sex pilus attaches F+ and F- bacteria during conjugation.






38. A hormone produced and released by the kidney that stimulates the production of red blood cells by the bone marrow.






39. A cell produced when a B cell is activated by antigen. Memory cells do not actively fight the current infection - but patrol the body in case of future infection with the same antigen. If the antigen should appear again the future - memory cells are






40. The failure of two separate genes to boey the Law of Independent Assortment - as might occur if the genes were found close together on the same chromosome.






41. An energy storage molecule used by muscle tissue. The phosphate from creatine phosphate can be removed and attached to an ADP to generate ATP quickly.






42. Cells that possess MHC II (B cells and macrophages) and are able to display bits of ingested antigen on their surface in order to activate T cells. See also 'MHC'






43. The movement of water (the solvent) from its region of high concentration to its region of low concentration. NOte that the water concnetration gradient is opposite to the solute concentration gradient - since where solutes are concentrated - water i






44. In skeleta and cardiac muscle tissue - a filament composed of actin - tropomyosin - and troponin. Thin filaments are attached to teh Z lines of the sarcomers and slide over thick filaments during muscle contraction.






45. A membrane lipid consisting of a glycerol molecule esteried to two fatty acid chains and a sugar molecule.






46. A mechanism for increasing tension (contractile length) in a muscle by activating more motor units.






47. The three glands in the male reproductive system that reproduce semen: the seminal vesicles - the prostate - and the






48. One of two large chambers in the heart. The ventricles receive blood from the atria and pump it out of the lungs of the heart. The right ventricle has thing walls and pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs through the pulmonary artery. The left ventri






49. Small convoluted tubules in the testes where spermatogenesis takes place.






50. Also known as the cortical reaction - the slow block invovles an increase in intracellular [Ca2+] in the egg - which causes the release of cortical granules near the egg plasma membrane. This results in the hardening of the zona pellucida and its sep