OCR General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) Biology Practice Exam

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $2.99 payment

Master GCSE Biology with our interactive exam quizzes. Utilize dynamic questions and thorough explanations to boost your understanding and excel in your GCSE Biology exam!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.

What characteristic of the stem cell treatment being researched allows it to mimic the heart’s functions?

It can increase blood pressure
It can develop tissue that contracts and relaxes
It can permanently replace heart muscles
It requires no surgical procedure

The correct answer is: It can develop tissue that contracts and relaxes

The characteristic that allows stem cell treatment to mimic the heart's functions is its ability to develop tissue that contracts and relaxes. This is crucial for the functionality of heart muscles, which are responsible for pumping blood throughout the body. The heart's rhythmic contractions are enabled by specialized cardiac muscle cells, and mimicking this contractile nature is essential in any treatment aimed at repairing or replacing damaged heart tissue. The other choices address aspects that do not directly contribute to this fundamental characteristic; for example, while increasing blood pressure and the ability to conduct non-surgical procedures may be relevant to heart health, they do not replicate the actual contraction and relaxation cycle of heart muscles. Similarly, while permanently replacing heart muscles could be an important goal, it is the mimicry of the tissue behavior—its ability to contract and relax—that fundamentally supports the heart's pumping mechanism.