Figure 5.

Micro‐ribonucleic acid (miR)‐23a‐3p targets NIMA‐related kinase 7 (NEK7) to suppress pyroptosis caused by nucleotide‐binding oligomerization‐like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammation body activation and to attenuate type 2 diabetes mellitus in rats. Type 2 diabetes mellitus rats were injected with inhibitor negative control (NC) + short hairpin (sh)‐NC, miR‐23a‐3p antagomir, sh‐NEK7 or miR‐23a‐3p antagomir + sh‐NEK7. (a) A reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction was carried out to detect miR‐23a‐3p and NEK7 levels in the liver and kidney tissues of type 2 diabetes mellitus rats. (b) A Western blot analysis was carried out to detect NEK7 expression in the liver and kidney tissues of type 2 diabetes mellitus rats. (c) Liver weight and liver‐to‐bodyweight ratio measurements in type 2 diabetes mellitus rats. (d) Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus rats. (e) Detection of insulin tolerance and glucose tolerance in type 2 diabetes mellitus rats. (f) Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay detection of the levels of interleukin (IL)‐1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α in serum. (g) Insulin levels determined by insulin immunohistochemistry experiment (×200). (h) Hematoxylin–eosin staining to observe the pathological changes of rat kidney and liver tissues (×400). (i) Western blot analysis detection of expression of NEK7, NLRP3, pro‐caspase‐1, cle‐caspase‐1 and c‐caspase‐1 (n = 8). *P < 0.05; ^# P < 0.05. Measurement data are expressed by the mean ± standard deviation. Data comparisons among multiple groups were carried out using the one‐way anova and Tukey’s post‐hoc test. Data comparisons between groups at different time points were carried out using repeated measures analysis of variance; post‐hoc testing was carried out using the Bonferroni post‐hoc test.