LDLR and vitamin D deficiency: Interestingly, vitamin D deficiency resulted in a 4-fold increase in plaque area in the aortic arch for LDLR−/− mice maintained for one year on vitamin D-deficient compared to –sufficient chow diet without exposure to HFD (p<0.01) (Figure 2D), suggesting that this nutritional deficiency alone is critical in the acceleration of atherosclerosis particularly in aortic segments exposed to high turbulence and low shear stress.