Why does a hormone only act on specific cell types in an organism and not others?
a) hormones are prevented from entering the bloodstream, and thus only act on the releasing cell itself.
b) hormones only act on cells that are adjacent to the releasing cell.
c) a cell must have the appropriate receptor before it can bind to the hormone.
d) all cells will take up the hormone and process it, but not all cells will elicit a response.

c) A cell must have the appropriate receptor before it can bind to the hormone.

Explanation:

Hormones are chemical signals that are secreted into the circulatory system acting as regulators within the body, and even though they can reach any part on the body, only certain types of cells are equipped to respond, these cells are known as target cells, when the hormone reaches a cell with an adequate receptors it triggers a signal transduction and then a response.

Therefore the correct answer is c.

I hope you find this information useful and interesting! Good luck!

if someone had the list of traits you provided