We have reported that MG160, an intrinsic membrane sialoglycoprotein of the Golgi apparatus (GA), resides in the medial cisternae of the organelle (Gonatas et al. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 646-653). In order to resolve the question whether MG160 acquires sialic acid residues in the trans cisternae or trans-Golgi network (TGN) prior to its retrograde transport, we have examined the effects of brefeldin A (BFA) on the post-translational processing of MG160, and the distribution of internalized wheat germ agglutinin covalently linked with HRP (WGA-HRP), which labels the TGN (Gonatas et al. (1977) J. Cell Biol. 73, 1-13). In BFA-treated PC12 cells, MG160 acquires resistance to endo H, but fails to be sialylated. This effect occurs in parallel with the redistribution of MG160 into an ER compartment dispersed throughout the cytoplasm including the nuclear envelope, and the collapse of the WGA-HRP-labelled TGN into vesicles and tubules surrounding the centriole. These results suggest that MG160 is not sialylated in BFA-treated cells because it is sequestered from the sialyltransferase enzyme(s), presumably located in the TGN, and provide evidence supporting the hypothesis for a retrograde transport pathway that recycles resident GA proteins, including MG160, between the Golgi cisternae and the TGN. To examine further the above hypothesis we studied cells treated with BFA and then allowed to recover from the effect of the drug for various lengths of time. After 15 minutes of recovery, cisternae of the Golgi apparatus, typically found in the pericentriolar region, are labeled by both MG160 and WGA-HRP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)