Melanopsin excitation in conditions of natural and artificial lighting

ISSOLIO, LUIS A.; BARRIONUEVO, PABLO A.; PRECIADO, OSCAR U.; COLOMBO, ELISA M.; MANZANO, EDUARDO

Anales AFA

Asociación Física Argentina

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2018 p. 25 - 30

0327-358X

Biological adaptation to sunlight evolved over millions of years. The intrusion of artificial lighting has disrupted this relationship with the natural environment. On the other hand the discovery of the photopigment melanopsin poses new challenges for lighting designers. We studied melanopsin excitation under natural and artificial illumination considering aging of intraocular media. Our results showed that artificial illuminants systematically produced lower melanopsin excitation than environmental natural daylight conditions. This reduction is small for LED and Fluorescent illuminants when compared with natural illuminant D50, which could resemble horizon light, but it is much more important when compared with CIE natural illuminants that can roughly reproduce a clear sunny daylight and overcast sky conditions