Docosahexaenoic acid (
DHA) is an
omega-3 fatty acid that is a primary structural component of the human
brain,
cerebral cortex,
skin,
sperm,
testicles and
retina. It can be synthesized from
alpha-linolenic acid or obtained directly from maternal milk or fish oil. DHA's structure is a
carboxylic acid (-
oic acid) with a 22-
carbon chain (
docosa- is
Greek for 22) and six (
hexa-)
cis double bonds (
-en-); with the first double bond located at the third carbon from the omega end. Its
trivial name is
cervonic acid, its
systematic name is
all-cis-docosa-4,7,10,13,16,19-hexa-enoic acid, and its shorthand name is
22:6(n-3) in the
nomenclature of fatty acids.