A 62-year-old man presents with a 2-year history of progressive cerebellar ataxia, REM sleep behavior disorder, and severe orthostatic hypotension (40 mm Hg drop on standing without compensatory tachycardia). Examination reveals wide-based gait, scanning dysarthria, and limb dysmetria, with parkinsonism that responds poorly to levodopa. T2-weighted axial MRI through the pons shows the cruciform hyperintensity marked as **A** in the diagram. Which of the following best describes the pathological substrate underlying this MRI finding in this patient?
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