Caged lipids as tools for investigating cellular signaling

•Caged lipids enable acute manipulation of second messenger levels.•Caged lipids allow noninvasive perturbation of cellular signaling networks.•Caged lipids can be applied to generate subcellular concentration gradients.

Lipid derivatives that can be activated by light, often referred to as ‘caged’ lipids, are useful tools to manipulate intact cells non-invasively. Here we focus on experimental approaches that have made use of caged lipids. Apart from summarizing the recent advances and available tools in the field, we strive to highlight the experimental challenges that arise from lipid-specific biophysical properties and the abundance of an enormous diversity of distinct molecular lipid species in cells. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Tools to study lipid functions.