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Stress is one of the main causes of mental illnesses such as depression or drug addiction. Animal models have allowed the study of the neurobiological basis of the effects of stress and, in particular, the social defeat model has enabled the neuroinflammatory response to be related to the behavioural alterations produced by social stress. This model has been used to characterise anxiety, the depressive phenotype and the increased use of drugs such as alcohol following exposure to social stress. 

Studies using the social defeat model have reported an increase in numerous proinflammatory markers that begins after the first exposure to defeat and persists for several weeks. This increase is accompanied by an increase in blood-brain barrier permeability that further amplifies the neuroinflammatory response. 

Despite the knowledge gained in recent years, the characteristics of the stress response in females have not been fully studied yet, as this model is designed to be used in male animals. Similarly, although some research groups have studied the response to social defeat in adolescent animals, few studies have been carried out during this critical period of development, and virtually none in adolescent females.