This preprint presents a hypothesis that LED lighting, even at nominally adequate illuminance levels (≥200 lx), may induce partial mesopic visual function due to the absence of two spectral components present in sunlight and incandescent lamps: the 360–420 nm (violet / near-UVA) and 720+ nm (near-infrared) ranges. The hypothesis is grounded in four groups of published mechanisms — OPN5/EGR1 activation by violet light, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase stimulation by NIR, the photoinduced Meta II → Meta III rhodopsin deactivation pathway, and experimental evidence of improved color contrast sensitivity when incandescent lamps are introduced into LED-lit offices. Preliminary subjective observations (N=12) with consistent effect direction, supported by photometric and UV spectroradiometric measurements, are reported. Three experimental designs for formal verification are proposed. The author invites collaboration with research groups possessing clinical infrastructure for objective instrumental confirmation. The full document with detailed mechanistic analysis, experimental protocols, and preliminary data is available upon request.
Denis Vilisov (Sun,) studied this question.