Foreign substances like nicotine, morphine, and menthol exert their initial effects by _____.
选项：

A:killing cells immediately, exerting their physiological effects by causing cell death.
B:diffusing through cell plasma membranes and binding to transcription factors to change gene expression.
C:interacting with cell-surface receptors, causing the receptors to transduce signal inappropriately in the absence of the normal stimulus.
D:emoving cell-surface receptors from the plasma membrane.