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Arachidonic acid is a twenty-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acid with four cis carbon–carbon double bonds, at positions 5, 8, 11 and 14 when counted from the carboxyl group. Its molecular formula is ${\mathrm{C}}_{20}{\mathrm{H}}_{32}{\mathrm{O}}_2$. The shorthand $20:4n-6$ records twenty carbons, four double bonds and the first double bond six carbons from the methyl end.^[ref]

The indexing conventions describe the same structure from opposite ends: the bond between carbons 14 and 15 from the acid end is the first encountered from the methyl end. The cis geometry also distinguishes this molecule from stereoisomers with the same formula. Composition, double-bond positions and geometry all belong to its chemical identity.

Cyclooxygenase refers to the oxygenating activity of prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthases, commonly distinguished as COX-1 and COX-2. These enzymes convert arachidonic acid through prostaglandin intermediates toward products used in local signalling. Their cyclooxygenase and peroxidase reactions are successive catalytic activities, rather than the names of two unrelated complete pathways. ^[ref]

Different tissues can process the common intermediate into different final signals, so inhibiting the upstream enzyme can affect several products at once. COX-1 and COX-2 also differ in their regulation and tissue distribution. A change in enzyme abundance, catalytic inhibition and a change in downstream product formation are related but experimentally distinct observations.

A polyunsaturated fatty acid is a fatty acid with at least two carbon–carbon double bonds in its hydrocarbon chain. The carbon–oxygen double bond in the carboxyl group does not contribute to this count. Many biological examples have cis double bonds, whose geometry changes how chains pack.^[ref]

For example, arachidonic acid has twenty carbons and four carbon–carbon double bonds, while docosahexaenoic acid has twenty-two carbons and six. Chain length, bond positions and cis/trans geometry convey different information. A count such as “four double bonds” alone cannot uniquely identify the molecule or all of its physical properties.^[ref]