# Active cultures

Cells may be present in an *active* or *inactive* state. BactoBox® typically demonstrates strong agreement with plate counts for active cultures.

### Active culture

We refer to the culture as active when the cells are in the green region of the growth curve (phase 3-5). This includes exponential, deceleration, and early-stationary growth phases.

Arguably, some of the cells are active in the acceleration, but because some cells are still adapting, the culture is not yet fully active

<figure><img src="/files/8FBC8EFHmgx4xD2AFVsa" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Inactive culture

We refer to the culture as inactive (or dormant) when the cells are in other growth phases. This includes lag, acceleration, and decline phase (phase 1, 2, and 6).


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