High cholesterol diet and/or Ldlr−/− mice or Apoe−/− mice are frequently used in atherosclerosis research area19,29; however, some studies evaluated atherosclerosis in C57BL/6 wild-type mice by feeding with HFD although the phenotypes (e.g., LDL level and plaques) were milder than Ldlr−/− mice or Apoe−/− mice30–32. This evidence concerns the gene LDLR and atherosclerosis.