Research profile

Our research focuses on identifying new strategies for treating spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries. The overall goal of our studies is to understand the basic mechanisms of neuronal plasticity triggered by nervous system injury, which can be used to enhance the recovery of altered locomotor functions.

We aim to promote the restoration of the damaged nervous system and recovery of lost function by:

• enhancing endogenous repair response and remyelination in the injured spinal cord white matter
• identifying and applying novel factors activating the neural niche to produce new neurons
• identifying and modulating the microenvironmental clues expressed within the injured spinal cord and peripheral nerves to enhance their endogenous regenerative ability
• restitution of serotonergic/noradrenergic innervation using intraspinal neural transplantation of 5-HT and NA neurons obtained from the embryonic brainstem or generated in vitro from progenitor cells.

We employ both well-established and modern state-of-the-art neurophysiology and molecular biology methods. Additionally, our research involves investigations of the functional aspects of locomotor movement recovery after central or peripheral nervous system injury in young and adult rats.

Current research activities

Our team has already demonstrated that transplantation of the fetal brainstem area containing serotonergic (5-HT) neurons into the spinal cord below the complete transection leads to the restoration of 5-HT innervation and contributes to the improvement of locomotor functions in paraplegic rats. The current project aims to generate a population of pre-differentiated neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and to test the hypothesis that modulation of in vitro culture conditions can result in the targeted differentiation of NPCs and the generation of specific neuron types. Next, our research will determine whether NPCs from different sources (exogenous – fetal brainstem or endogenous – spinal cord central canal ependyma), initially differentiated under the control of various trophic factors, will be able to differentiate into specific types of neurons after transplantation to the spinal cord (ex vivo organotypic cultures) and contribute to the improvement of lost locomotor functions of paraplegic rats (in vivo investigations).

In another project, we investigate the mechanisms underlying impaired peripheral nerve regeneration during early postnatal development. Developing motoneurons are very sensitive to axonal injury, disrupting their connections with the muscles they innervate, and which are, in turn, a major source of neurotrophic factors. We hypothesize that experimental modification of immature nerves will enhance axonal regeneration, reduce motoneuron mortality, and promote the restoration of motor functions lost due to peripheral nerve injury. To test this hypothesis, we examine the role of selected signaling pathways that are preferentially activated in more mature nerves. By enhancing activation of the selected signaling pathway, we aim to determine whether this strategy can enable developing nerves to achieve a functional improvement in young injured rats, comparable to that observed after injury in more mature ones.

Selected publications

Sławińska U., Hammar I., Jankowska E. (2025) Modulation of sensory input to the spinal cord by peripheral afferent fibres via GABAergic astrocytes. Eur J Neurosci. 61(6):e70057.

Zawadzka M., Yeghiazaryan M., Niedziółka S., Miazga K., Kwaśniewska A., Bekisz M., Sławińska U. (2022) Forced remyelination promotes axon regeneration in a rat model of spinal cord injury. Int J Mol Sci. 24(1):495.

Zawadzka M., Kwaśniewska A., Miazga K., Sławińska U. (2021) Perspectives in the cell-based therapies of various aspects of the spinal cord injury-associated pathologies: Lessons from the animal models. Cells. 10(11):2995.

Sławińska U., Majczyński H., Kwaśniewska A., Miazga K., Cabaj A.M., Bekisz M., Jordan L.M., Zawadzka M. (2021) Unusual quadrupedal locomotion in rats during recovery from lumbar spinal blockade of 5-HT7 receptors. Int J Mol Sci. 22(11):6007.

Kwaśniewska A., Miazga K., Majczyński H., Jordan L.M., Zawadzka M., Sławińska U. (2020) Noradrenergic components of locomotor recovery induced by intraspinal grafting of the embryonic brainstem in adult paraplegic rats. Int J Mol Sci. 21(15):5520.

Wylot B., Mieczkowski J., Niedziolka S., Kaminska B., Zawadzka M. (2019) Csf1 Deficiency Dysregulates Glial Responses to Demyelination and Disturbs CNS White Matter Remyelination. Cells. 9(1):99.

Miazga K., Fabczak H., Joachimiak E., Zawadzka M., Krzemień-Ojak Ł., Bekisz M., Bejrowska A., Jordan L.M., Sławińska U. (2018) Intraspinal grafting of serotonergic neurons modifies expression of genes important for functional recovery in paraplegic rats. Neural Plast. Article ID 4232706

Ma D., Wang B., Zawadzka M., Gonzalez G., Wu Z., Yu B., Rawlins E.L., Franklin R.J.M., Zhao C. (2018) A Subpopulation of Foxj1-Expressing, Nonmyelinating Schwann Cells of the Peripheral Nervous System Contribute to Schwann Cell Remyelination in the Central Nervous System. J Neurosci. 38(43):9228-9239.

Ulanska-Poutanen J., Mieczkowski J., Zhao C., Konarzewska K., Kaza B., Pohl H.B., Bugajski L., Kaminska B., Franklin R.J., Zawadzka M. (2018) Injury-induced perivascular niche supports alternative differentiation of adult rodent CNS progenitor cells. Elife. 7:e30325.

Cabaj A.M., Majczyński H., Couto E., Gardiner P.F., Stecina K., Sławińska U., Jordan L.M. (2017) Serotonin controls initiation of locomotion and afferent modulation of coordination via 5-HT7 receptors in adult rats. J Physiol, 595(1): 301-320.

Leszczyńska A.N., Majczyński H., Wilczyński G.M., Sławińska U., Cabaj A.M. (2015) Thoracic hemisection in rats results in initial recovery followed by a late decrement in locomotor movements, with changes in coordination correlated with serotonergic innervation of the ventral horn. PLoS One, 10(11): e0143602

Wylot B., Konarzewska K., Bugajski L., Piwocka K., Zawadzka M. (2015) Isolation of vascular endothelial cells from intact and injured murine brain cortex – Technical issues and pitfalls in FACS analysis of the nervous tissue. Cytometry A. 87(10):908-20

Sławińska U., Miazga K., Jordan L.M. (2014) 5-HT₂ and 5-HT₇ receptor agonists facilitate plantar stepping in chronic spinal rats through actions on different populations of spinal neurons. Front Neural Circuits, 8: 95.

Sławińska U., Miazga K., Cabaj A.M., Leszczyńska A.N., Majczyński H., Nagy J.I., Jordan LM. (2013) Grafting of fetal brainstem 5-HT neurons into the sublesional spinal cord of paraplegic rats restores coordinated hindlimb locomotion. Exp Neurol. 247: 572-581.