Every tissue in the body originates from one of the three germ layers, and each follows a predictable pattern during conflict activity and healing.

In embryology, germ layers are the three primary layers of cells that form very early in development (during gastrulation). They’re like the embryo’s first “construction zones.”

After an egg and sperm come together to create a zygote (a fertilized egg), it is still a single cell. But that cell immediately begins to duplicate, soon forming a ball of cells. At the first cell duplication, the fertilized egg goes from being a zygote to being an embryo. As the embryo grows (because the cells continue to duplicate), it forms a ball of hundreds of cells. These cells begin to specialize, and they do so in what embryologists call “germ layers:”

• endoderm (“inside layer”)
• mesoderm (“middle layer”)
• ectoderm (“outside layer”)

These three germ layers grow into characteristic shapes, resulting in the process called “gastrulation,” when an embryo forms its digestive tract (endoderm), the beginnings of its bones and muscles (mesoderm), and its skin and other sensory organs on the outside of its body (ectoderm). Cells in each germ layer continue to specialize throughout the embryonic development phase of the organism, giving rise to characteristic tissue types and organs.  As a result, tissues and organs from the same germ layer share recognizable histological features and will display the same pattern of change during the active and healing phases of a special biological program that involves them.

This means that, if we know the tissue or organ involved in a symptom, we can know which germ layer it belongs to. Its germ layer will determine:

• which type of biological conflict the special biological program is a response to,
• the type of tissue change during the active biological conflict,
• the brain relay involved, and
• the pattern of healing,

Understanding the germ layers is foundational to understanding the logic, precision, and predictability of all SBS processes. In Germanic New Medicine, we recognize that the middle germ layer actually specializes into two separate germ layers. This means that, although embryology recognizes three germ layers (inside, middle, and outer), we actually have four embryonic germ layers, each with its own characteristic cell types and tissue behaviour during a special biological program.

The four germ layers:

1) Endoderm (inner layer)

• Becomes: linings of the digestive tract, respiratory tract, reproductive system

• Also: organs related to digestion, respiration and water processing like the liver, pancreas, thyroid, other glands, kidney collecting tubules, and more

2) Old Mesoderm (inner middle layer)

• Becomes: corium skin, dermis, inner protective/encasing skins such as pleura, pericardium, peritoneum

• Also: sweat glands and breast glands, which are specialized invaginated corium skin

3) New Mesoderm (outer middle layer)

• Becomes: muscles, bones, connective tissue

• Also: heart, blood and blood vessels, kidney parenchyma, gonads, adrenal cortices, and much of the body’s “support and transport” systems

4) Ectoderm (outer layer)

• Becomes: sensory tissues

• Also: functional controls which do not produce tissue changes during a special biological program, such as glucagon- and insulin-producing cells, motor control functions, metabolic functions

Tissues of the endoderm and old mesoderm germ layers (“old brain tissues”) respond to the most ancient biological conflicts of stimulus-response and core survival through nutrient management. Tissues of the new mesoderm and ectoderm germ layers (“new brain tissues”) respond to biological conflicts which developed later in evolutionary history: conflicts of ability and orientation.