Mr. Doyal has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (which is the result of damaged dopamine signaling). Instead of giving him dopamine, his doctors have given him a derivative of dopamine called L-DOPA to take. Given what you know about substances entering the nervous system, why do you think Mr. Doyal was given L-DOPA instead of dopamine?
What will be an ideal response?
Mr. Doyal was likely given L-DOPA instead of dopamine because of the blood-brain barrier. Dopamine cannot cross the blood-brain barrier so giving it to Mr. Doyal would not relieve his symptoms. His doctors gave him L-DOPA since it would cross the blood-brain barrier and could then be converted into dopamine in the brain.
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