The objectives of this study were to measure the parallel changes of transverse relaxation times (T 2 ), spin-lattice relaxation time in the rotating frame (T 1ρ ), and the delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC)-T 1 mapping of human knee cartilage in detecting cartilage degeneration at 3.0T.Healthy volunteers (n = 10, mean age 35.6 years) and patients (n = 10, mean age 65 years) with early knee osteoarthritis (OA) were scanned at 3.0T MR using an 8-channel phased array knee coil (transmit–receive). Quantitative assessment of T 2 , T 1ρ , and dGEMRIC-T 1 values (global and regional) were correlated between asymptomatic subjects and patients with OA.The average T 2 (39 ± 2 milliseconds [mean ± standard deviation] vs. 47 ± 6 milliseconds, P < .0007) and T 1ρ (48 ± 3 vs. 62 ± 8 milliseconds, P < .0002) values were all markedly increased in all patients with OA when compared to healthy volunteers. The average dGEMRIC-T 1 (1244 ± 134 vs. 643 ± 227 milliseconds, P < .000002) value was sharply decreased after intravenous administration of gadolinium contrast agent in all patients with OA.The research results showed that all the T 2 , T 1ρ , and dGEMRIC-T 1 relaxation times varied with the cartilage degeneration. The dGEMRIC-T 1 and T 1ρ relaxation times seem to be more sensitive than T 2 in detecting early cartilage degeneration. The preliminary study demonstrated that the early biochemical changes in knee osteoarthritic patients could be detected noninvasively in in vivo using T 1ρ and dGEMRIC-T 1 mapping.