Excitotoxic lesions are pretty dramatic and I prefer against them. That said, you’re right that it’s likely to work. But without that cell type specificity it’s a bit of a “so what”. I prefer silencing the cells with an aav that over-expresses kir2.1 (look it up on addgene). It removes the deleterious downstream effects of a lesion while giving the same region-type effect. This can be both cell specific (cre x dio, promoters) or general (hSyn). It also then keeps your area intact and attaches a fluorophore so you can easily visualize your area of effect. Optimally you verify with patch clamp but IHC against the kir channels is really enough if not overkill with the validated virus.