The Cyclogeny of the Endobiont: How a Symbiont Becomes a Parasite

Part 2 of our series, "Understanding SANUM Therapy."

This article is educational in nature and does not replace personalised medical advice. If you are managing a health condition, please consult a qualified practitioner.

A coated tongue. A run of headaches. Catarrh that won't quite clear, or a mood that has been quietly low for weeks with no obvious cause. In conventional practice these might be treated as separate, unconnected complaints. In the framework Günther Enderlein laid out across four decades of blood microscopy, they can all be read as signs of the same underlying process: the Endobiont, a symbiont normally living peacefully within us, rising step by step through its developmental cycle toward more pathogenic, more toxic forms.

Enderlein called this staged progression cyclogeny — literally, the birth-cycle of the organism. Understanding its stages is what allows a SANUM practitioner to reason about which remedy fits which phase of a person's condition, rather than reaching for a single fixed treatment regardless of how far the disturbance has progressed.

Three Basic Phases: Colloid, Bacterium, Fungus

According to Enderlein, the Endobiont does not represent one unchanging organism, nor several independent ones. All of its forms originate from a single common source: colloidal, albuminoid substance present inside every cell. From there, its cyclogeny runs through three basic developmental phases.

It begins as a Protit — the nonpathogenic, non-mobile, tiniest albuminoid particle, classified in size alongside viruses at around 0.01 μm. From there it passes through the nonpathogenic Chondrit stage — still low-valenced, still supportive of the host's metabolism rather than damaging to it. Only beyond this point does it rise into the parasitic, pathogenic stages recognisable as bacterium and, at the far end of the cycle, fungus.

Fibrin, incidentally, is described as the highest developmental form of the Chondrit stage — the last point before the Endobiont crosses over from the primitive phase into the bacterial phase proper (a transition Enderlein saw mirrored in the work of his contemporary, Wilhelm von Brehmer, on Siphonospora polymorpha). In these lower valences, the symbiont is still supporting the metabolism of its host, strengthening rather than undermining the body's own defences. It is only as the Endobiont rises further up this ladder that the picture changes.

Why Valence Matters

"Valence" here refers to how far up the cyclogenetic ladder a given form of the Endobiont sits — and, in Enderlein's model, valence and toxicity rise together. The higher the Endobiont climbs in its developmental series, via the Chondrit form and beyond, the more it increases in toxicity. This upward development, via the Chondrit form and higher, is what Enderlein held responsible for what he termed the diseases of the Endobiosis complex — a term he used from 1946 onward to describe the presence of these organisms, in their various developmental stages, within mammal bodies.

Because the Endobiont devours protein greedily as it develops, its upward climb — and the resulting congestion, or Endobiosis — is especially encouraged by improper nutrition. The literature associated with this therapeutic tradition links this process to a striking breadth of conditions: vascular changes, pathological coagulatory processes, geloses, rheumatism, arthritis, spondylosis, tonsillitis, lymphogranulomatosis, diabetes, gout, tumours of every type including their benign pre-stages, anaemia, leukaemia, cerebral sclerosis and paralyses. It is a sobering list, and it explains why this school of practice places such emphasis on the early, lower-valenced stages of the cycle — the point at which restoring symbiotic balance is at its most achievable.

"The upward development of the Endobiont via the Chondrit form and higher is the cause for the endobiontic diseases, up to the death of the host organism."

Two Species, Traced From Colloid to Fungus

Enderlein's chief work, Bacteria Cyclogeny (Berlin, 1925), describes this progression in exacting detail for two mould fungi in particular: Aspergillus niger van Tieghem and Mucor racemosus Fresen, tracked from their primitive phases as tiniest colloidal albuminoid particles, through the bacterial phase, all the way up to the fungal stage. Both fungal species are believed to be acquired transplacentally and can occur as Endobionts, in any of their developmental stages, within mammal bodies — more or less frequently, but consistently enough that Enderlein and those who followed him regarded them as the cause of numerous ailments.

Tubercular and paratubercular disease processes caused by pathogenic Aspergillus stages occur less often than the disease processes more frequently caused by pathogenic phases of Mucor. This is why the isopathic preparations built from the low-valenced Chondritin stages of these two organisms — Nigersan® for Aspergillus niger, and Mucokehl® for Mucor racemosus — occupy such a central place in SANUM practice. They are not the only Chondritins available, though. The same principle — extracting the nonpathogenic, low-developmental stage of a specific fungal species and offering it back to the body in homeopathic potency — underlies Notakehl® (from Penicillium chrysogenum), Fortakehl® (from Penicillium roquefortii), and Mucedokehl® (from Mucor mucedo), each addressing a different point on the cyclogenetic map.

Restriction, Not Suppression

One detail from this tradition is worth sitting with, because it captures the whole philosophy in a single sentence: the restriction of protein intake is said to cause a return to the lower, nonpathogenic phases, which then leave the body via its own organs of excretion. Nothing here is framed as suppressing or killing a pathogen. The aim, consistently, is to help the Endobiont step back down its own cycle to where it began — and to support the organs of elimination as it does.

This is also why diet features so prominently across this therapeutic tradition. Because the Endobiont's upward climb is fuelled by excess protein, and because civilisation-pattern eating — refined flour, sugar, excessive animal protein — is understood to acidify the body's terrain and encourage exactly the conditions in which the Endobiont thrives, nutritional change sits alongside the remedies themselves as a genuine part of the therapy, not an afterthought.

Having mapped the stages a symbiont passes through on its way to becoming a parasite, the next article in this series turns to the two preparations most closely associated with reversing that journey — Mucokehl® and Nigersan® — and looks in detail at how SANUM's basic regulation protocol puts them to work.

Featured products

Explore the full Sanum range — isopathic, immunobiological and terrain-support preparations built on Enderlein’s original research.

Not sure which remedy is right for you?
Try our Natural Remedy Finder, or contact our team for guidance.

Related reading

• What Is SANUM Therapy? Enderlein's Model of Pleomorphism and Symbiosis
• Mucokehl and Nigersan: The Two Foundation Stones of Basic Regulation
• Immune Modulation: Latensin, Recarcin, Bovisan and the Bacterial-Phase Preparations

Source: SANUM-Kehlbeck Practitioner Reference Guide, Preface — "Diseases of the Endobiosis Complex" and "Foundations for Isopathic Therapy"; G. Enderlein, Bacteria Cyclogeny (Berlin, 1925).

Tags: Sanum Articles, Understanding SANUM Therapy, Pleomorphism, Enderlein, Isopathy