Abstract. Recycling of a number of glycoproteins along the site of action of mannosidase I (the distal endoplasmic reticulum/cis-Golgi) was followed in several different cell lines. Treatment of cells with 1-deoxymannojirimycin (dMM) produced high mannose oligosaccharides at positions otherwise occupied by complex-type oligosaccharides in these glycoproteins. Conversion of high-mannose-type oligosaccharides to complex oligosaccharides of proteins initially synthesized in the presence of dMM was used as a marker for recycling of glycoproteins along the site of action of dMM. In contrast to findings reported by Snider and Rogers (Snider, M. D., and O. C. Rogers. 1986. J. Cell Biol. 103:265-275), removal of dMM did not result in reconversion of high-mannose oligosaccharides to complex-type sugars, even after prolonged periods of culture. We conclude that surface glycoproteins do not recycle through the cis-medial Golgi elements.NDOCYTOSIS of surface receptors is one of the mechanisms by which the cell controls uptake of nutrients, and levels of surface receptors. Any stimulus delivered by hormones or growth factors may likewise be dependent on, or modulated by receptor-mediated endocytosis (7,8). The endocytotic pathway has been unraveled in considerable detail morphologically and biochemically (17,26). Far less is known about the route taken by recycling receptors on their way back to the cell surface, because it is difficult to discriminate between newly synthesized receptors that are on their way to the plasma membrane, and recycling receptors that were already resident at the cell surface.In principle, the exocytotic aspect of the recycling pathway can be studied, provided the following conditions can be fulfilled. Receptors resident at the cell surface need to be tagged specifically; the label used should not perturb the recycling process per se; traversing a particular subcellular compartment should produce a detectable change in the tagged receptor. Lactoperoxidase-catalyzed iodination of surface receptors in conjunction with neuraminidase digestion has been used to produce labeled, desialylated surface molecules that can report on traffic through the trans-Golgi (22). Under these circumstances, acquisition of sialic acid(s) is interpreted as indicative of traversal through the transGolgi network.A second approach is to use modifications of N-linked glycans as produced by oligosaccharide-trimming inhibitors (6). Use of the mannosidase I inhibitor 1-deoxymannojirimycin (dMM) ~ results in retention of high-mannose oligo-1. Abbreviations used in this paper: dMM, 1-deoxymannojirimycin; Endo H, endoglycosidase H; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; FPLC, fast protein liquid chromatography; NANAse, neuraminidase; Tf, transferrin; Tfr, transferrin receptor; Tfr ~mm, transferrin receptor synthesized in the presence of dMM.saccharides for those glycans normally converted to the complex type (5). In a pulse-chase experiment, surface receptors carrying high-mannose glycans as a consequence of treatment with dMM can be delivere...