The resonant change of the discharge current with the application of an external magnetic field, known as magneto-galvanic effect (MGE), is studied as a galvanic manifestation of the atomic states coherence in a hollow cathode discharge. The signal measured represents the difference in the conductivity of the self-aligned and the non-aligned ensembles. The contribution of the metastable 1s5 and the resonant 1s4 Ne levels to the MG signals observed is checked by laser irradiation of the optical transitions 1s5-2p9 and 1s4-2p8 in the discharge. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.