Do spinal cord reflexes (such as the knee-jerk reflex) continue to function under general anaesthesia?

Question

The knee-jerk reflex is an example of a stretch reflex. Stretch reflexes are monosynaptic reflexes happening in the spinal cord without involvement of the brain.Does it mean that this reflex will continue to function in an unconscious person, e.g. under general anaesthesia? Does it depend on the "deepness" of anaesthesia? Does it depend on a specific drug? I would also be interested to know if spinal reflexes keep working in unconscious states such as e.g. alcohol poisoning or a knockout.

Answer 1

It depends upon the kind of anesthesia.

For conscious sedation type light anesthesia, no

But for knock-you-out operative anesthesia yes. How anesthesia works has been a long time medical mystery. The most recent research gives us the thought that it triggers the portion of your brain that induce sleep hard. Now part of sleep is paralyzing the body, so that should shut down reflexes. Operative anesthesia also slows or stops the internal movements o the body - which is great for the surgeon.

Not sure about other states of unconsciousness..