title: Hunting increases phosphorylation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II in adult barn owls.
abstract: Juvenile barn owls readily adapt to prismatic spectacles, whereas adult owls living under standard aviary conditions do not. We previously demonstrated that phosphorylation of the cyclic-AMP response element-binding protein (CREB) provides a readout of the instructive signals that guide plasticity in juveniles. Here we investigated phosphorylation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (pCaMKII) in both juveniles and adults. In contrast to CREB, we found no differences in pCaMKII expression between prism-wearing and control juveniles within the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICX), the major site of plasticity. For prism-wearing adults that hunted live mice and are capable of adaptation, expression of pCaMKII was increased relative to prism-wearing adults that fed passively on dead mice and are not capable of adaptation. This effect did not bear the hallmarks of instructive information: it was not localized to rostral ICX and did not exhibit a patchy distribution reflecting discrete bimodal stimuli. These data are consistent with a role for CaMKII as a permissive rather than an instructive factor. In addition, the paucity of pCaMKII expression in passively fed adults suggests that the permissive default setting is "off" in adults.
authors: Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, Center for Neuroscience, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95618, USA.
authors: Grant S
authors: GS
authors: Nichols
authors: Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, Center for Neuroscience, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95618, USA.
authors: William M
authors: WM
authors: DeBello
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D020305:Strigiformes; D003336:Tectum Mesencephali / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2