Excessive glycation of pericapillary pericytic matrix components is an essential mechanism of arterial hypertension development in hyperglycemia.

In patients with essential hypertension, inhibition of glucose utilization in tissues was detected similar to that in diabetics. High levels of glycated compounds were found in cerebral, cardiac, and renal tissues of patients dead from coronary heart disease complicated and not complicated from diabetes mellitus and essential hypertension compared to victims dead from traumas. Experimental studies on rabbits and rats showed that the content of glycoconjugates in tissues did not increase in short-term (exogenous or stress-associated) hyperglycemia, while accumulation of glycoconjugates in pericapillary, pericytic, and cellular structures in long-term hyperglycemia caused deformation of tissue ultrastructure. These disorders can impede capillary transudation, initiate and stabilize arterial hypertension, and lead to multiple organ failure.