Digestion of covalently linked [125I]human (h) GH-receptor complexes with neuraminidase or endoglycosidase F reduced the mass of the principal hormone receptor complex from about 130 kilodaltons (kDa) to 120 and 110 kDa, respectively, suggesting that about 20% of the mass of the GH receptor of rat adipocytes consists of N-linked sialocarbohydrates. Incubation of adipocytes with tunicamycin, an inhibitor of N-linked glycosylation, decreased the incorporation of [35S]methionine into membrane glycoproteins by more than 50% in 4 h and decreased specific binding of [125I]hGH by about 70% after 8 h. Decreased binding and incorporation of [35S]methionine were seen only after a lag time of about 2 h. Cross-linking of [125I] hGH to cells that had been treated with tunicamycin resulted in the appearance of a new labeled species of hormone-receptor complex with an apparent mass of about 110 kDa. This band appeared after a delay of about 3 h and reached approximately equal prominence with the 130 kDa band at 5 h. By 8 h, the 110 kDa complex was the predominant band in radioautograms, but some of the 130 kDa species remained. Scatchard analysis of binding data in tunicamycin-treated adipocytes indicated that decreased binding of [125I]hGH resulted from a 3- to 4-fold decrease in affinity accompanied by only a small (30%) decline in receptor number. Tunicamycin did not affect the rate of receptor turnover in cells that were also treated with cycloheximide to block protein synthesis, but receptor turnover decelerated with increasing time of incubation. Treatment with tunicamycin for 8 h markedly slowed the rate at which specifically bound [125I]hGH disappeared from adipocytes, suggesting that N-linked carbohydrates may play some role in internalization and processing of labeled hormone. We conclude that 1) N-linked carbohydrates contribute about 20 kDa to the apparent mass of the GH receptor of rat adipocytes; 2) N-linked glycosylation is not required for GH receptors to be inserted into the adipocyte membrane in the proper orientation and to retain their ability to recognize and bind GH; 3) N-linked sugar chains are required for maintenance of a normal high affinity of receptors for GH; 4) N-linked carbohydrates are necessary for normal rates of internalization and processing of bound hGH.