NLRP3 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: This study demonstrated that ALA treatment for 13 weeks was able to inhibit the activation of the hepatic NLRP3 inflammasome in T2DM rats and could be attributed to (a) decreased expression of transcription factor NF‐κB, which reduced the expression levels of NLRP3 and caspase‐1; and (b) decreased ALT/AST ratio, which reduced the production of the inflammatory cytokine IL‐1β in the liver.