AMPA is a powerful neurotoxin in the chicken retina.

Intravitreal (RS)-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazoleacetic acid (AMPA) is a powerful excitotoxin on the chicken retina. Doses of 10 nmol/eye produce half-maximum destruction of cholinergic amacrine cells, making AMPA equipotent with kainic acid. The effects of AMPA can be distinguished from those of kainic acid morphologically, and from those of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid by the failure of 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (2-AP5) to block those of AMPA. Both morphologically, and in response to 2-AP5, the effects of AMPA and quisqualic acid are indistinguishable, but AMPA is much more potent than quisqualic acid, presumably due to the uptake and inactivation of quisqualic acid.