(Knee) meniscus is a crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that serves to disperse friction in the knee joint between tibia and femur. Although the biomechanical function of the menisci has been investigated by numerous researchers, only few have studied the actual response in vivo [1]. Quantitative MRI provides a useful link between biomechanical parameters and collagen fibers organization in connective tissues [2]. Here, we studied the dynamic response of meniscus tissue to the loading using T2* acquired by variable echo time sequence (vTE) capable of very low TE (~0.8ms)[3]. Low TE allows for acquiring a lot of signal from meniscus resulting in much more precise T2* estimation. All MRI examinations were performed on a 3T MR system (Tim Trio, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany) with an eight-channel knee coil (In vivo, Gainesville, FL).To obtain T2* values in meniscus, vTE sequence has been used with 10 echoes: TE = [0.8, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 9.1, 10.1] ms, flip angle 13 degrees; repetition time = 29 ms; and one signal average. The bandwidth was 320 Hz/pixel; 144 sections; with a total acquisition time of 6:10 min. The field of view was 120x180 mm, with a consecutive in-plane resolution of 0.47x 1.02. The two-parametric least square fitting procedure written in C++ has been used. Four subject with no history of knee pain or any meniscal problems were included in the study (4 females, mean age 28.3±1 years). A custom made diamagnetic apparatus has been created to simulate stress conditions on the lower limb in a conventional MR scanner. It consists of a board with 4 holes. Through these holes pass 4 bars with air rubber bands attached to their ends. These rubbers are attached to the harness. Simulation of the load is induced by tightening each rubber band to pre-determined value of the extension. Prior to load induction using this apparatus, the resultant force vectors in the chosen segment of the feet after long-term static load has to be quantified. Dynamometric insoles (Pedar-X) have been used for quantification of force vectores on the sole. Insoles record pressure distribution map in the interaction between foot segments and the pad. (Fig. 1) vTE T2* was performed in five consecutive scans (baseline. comp1[+6:10min], comp2[+12:20min], comp3[+18:30], comp4[+24:30]). In each subject, four meniscal parts were selected: anterior and posterior horns in both lateral and medial meniscus, in each red and white zone was selected according to [4]. Care was given to avoid partial volume effect - pixels at the edge of the meniscus were excluded from evaluation. The differences in different time-points were calculated using a Wilcoxon signed ranks test. P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.The mean T2* in meniscus (red and white zone pooled) was before loading 7.06±2.53ms (LAT,ANT) 6.53±3.20ms (LAT, POS), 6.62±2.76ms (MED,ANT) and 4.79±1.07ms (MED,POS) and after loading 7.88±4.38ms (LAT,ANT) 8.16±5.21ms (LAT, POS), 8.02±3.45ms (MED,ANT) and 8.87±2.97ms (MED,POS). The example T2* maps are depicted on the Figure 2. The pattern of gradient T2* increase was observed clearly in medial meniscus (both horns) - see Figure 3.In this study, the feasibility of the meniscus dynamic response has been validated using vTE T2* mapping. Submilisecond first echo time is a great advantage of vTE sequence allowing for precise mapping of relatively short T2* in menisci. This is, in our mind, the advantage over T2 mapping which has technological limits for decreasing the first echo time [1]. This study showed vTE-T2* is capable of detecting the biochemical processes in meniscus during loading and, moreover, the trend in different time points was acquired. Unlike in cartilage, the T2* in menisci elevates under loading due to interaction of negatively charged proteoglycans with fluid cations which helps to take in the fluid and thus resist the compression [5]. The evaluation of meniscal response to loading might help in diagnostic of knee lesions such as meniscal tears and degenerations, osteoarthritis or meniscal lesion related to ligament tears. In the future, we plan to increase the number of subject to validate the results and also to evaluate the meniscal body.