Cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR) is generated in pancreatic islets by glucose stimulation, serving as a second messenger for Ca 2؉ mobilization from the endoplasmic reticulum for insulin secretion (Takasawa, S., Nata, K., Yonekura, H., and Okamoto, H. (1993) Science 259, 370 -373). In the present study, we observed that the addition of calmodulin (CaM) to rat islet microsomes sensitized and activated the cADPR-mediated Ca 2؉ release. Inhibitors for CaM-dependent protein kinase II (CaM kinase II) completely abolished the glucose-induced insulin secretion as well as the cADPR-mediated and CaM-activated Ca 2؉ mobilization. Western blot analysis revealed that the microsomes contain the ␣ isoform of CaM kinase II but do not contain CaM. When the active 30-kDa chymotryptic fragment of CaM kinase II was added to the microsomes, fully activated cADPR-mediated Ca 2؉ release was observed in the absence of CaM. These results along with available evidence strongly suggest that CaM kinase II is required to phosphorylate and activate the ryanodine-like receptor, a Ca 2؉ channel for cADPR as an endogenous activator, for the cADPR-mediated Ca 2؉ release.